theory

Extremely massive fundamental particles could exist, but they would seriously mess with our understanding of quantum mechanics.

From Brookhaven National Laboratory, Sept. 17, 2020: Brookhaven theorists publish an improved prediction for the tiny difference in kaon decays observed by experiments. Understanding these decays and comparing the prediction with more recent state-of-the-art experimental measurements made at Fermilab and CERN gives scientists a way to test for tiny differences between matter and antimatter.

Even world-famous theorist Juan Maldacena wasn’t sure at first whether he should pursue a Ph.D. in physics.

An international team of theoretical physicists have published their calculation of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. Their work expands on a simple yet richly descriptive equation that revolutionized physics almost a century ago and that may aid scientists in the discovery of physics beyond the Standard Model. Now the world awaits the result from the Fermilab Muon g-2 experiment.

From Argonne National Laboratory, May 5, 2020: Using Argonne’s supercomputer Mira, researchers have come up with newly precise calculations aimed at understanding a key gap between physics theory and measurements by the Muon g-2 experiment

When observed parameters seem like they must be finely tuned to fit a theory, some physicists accept it as coincidence. Others want to keep digging.

From The Atlantic, Nov. 17, 2019: Describing neutrino oscillations is notoriously tricky. The search for a shortcut by Fermilab physicist Stephen Parke, University of Chicago physicist Xining Zhang and Brookhaven National Laboratory physicist Peter Denton led to unexpected places. They ended up discovering an unexpected relationship between some of the most ubiquitous objects in math.

From Quanta Magazine, Nov. 13, 2019: Fermilab physicist Stephen Parke, University of Chicago physicist Xining Zhang and Brookhaven National Laboratory physicist Peter Denton wanted to calculate how neutrinos change. They ended up discovering an unexpected relationship between some of the most ubiquitous objects in math.

Fermilab scientist Alexey Burov has discovered that accelerator scientists misinterpreted a certain collection of phenomena found in intense proton beams for decades. Researchers had misidentified these beam instabilities, assigning them to particular class when, in fact, they belong to a new type of class: convective instabilities. In a paper published this year, Burov explains the problem and proposes a more effective suppression of the unwanted beam disorder.

From Mashable India, Sept. 26, 2019: A team of theoretical physicists from Fermilab and Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a fundamental identity in the context of particle physics. The new identity can directly relate eigenvectors and eigenvalues in a manner that has been unknown.