video R1BK4

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:01][music] >> Rarest baryon decay ever observed at CERN.

[00:00:09]>> [music] >> Scientists working on the LHCb experiment at CERN have detected [music] the most improbable phenomenon in the history of particle physics.

[00:00:19]It turns out that a Sigma [music] plus particle decays into a proton, muon, and antimuon only once in every [music] 100 million times.

[00:00:30]This accidental discovery provides new insights [music] into fundamental processes in the subatomic world.

[00:00:39]Of the 100 trillion Sigma plus particles generated, >> [music] >> researchers detected just 237 instances of this particular decay.

[00:00:50]The branching factor [music] is a mere 1.08 by 10, meaning that even under controlled conditions, detecting [music] such a process requires processing astronomical amounts of data.

[00:01:04]Baryons are subatomic particles composed of [music] an odd number of quarks.

[00:01:10]The most familiar examples are protons [music] and neutrons in atomic nuclei, but there are wide range of less stable baryons [music] including Sigma plus.

[00:01:21]To understand [music] the scale of this uniqueness, if we created a billion Sigma plus particles, only a handful [music] would decay like this.

[00:01:32]It's like searching for a single needle in a haystack the [music] size of France.

[00:01:38]The discovery is particularly significant because it closes a chapter in physics.

[00:01:44]Previous observations [music] from the US-based Fermilab suggested the existence of a hypothetical [music] unknown intermediary particle.

[00:01:54]These reports caused quite a stir in the scientific community. [music] The potential new particle could signal physics beyond the standard [music] model, the fundamental theory describing known elementary particles and the interactions [music] between them.

[00:02:12]Meanwhile, precise measurements by the [music] LHCb team yielded different conclusions.

[00:02:19]The analysis revealed [music] no resonance structures in the dimuon mass distribution.

[00:02:26]In practice, this means that [music] the three daughter particles are being created directly without the involvement of any mysterious intermediate particle.

[00:02:35][music] The results are in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions of the standard model, which describes this decay as a process occurring at the level of quantum loops.

[00:02:48]Admittedly, while this lacks the sensation of new physics, such confirmation [music] of existing theories has its merits.

[00:02:58]The most interesting thing is [music] that the entire discovery was due to a stroke of luck.

[00:03:04]>> [music] >> The main goal of the LHCb experiment was to investigate the asymmetry between matter and antimatter and attempt to explain [music] why matter dominates the universe.

[00:03:17]The sigma [music] plus particles were essentially a side effect of the main study.

[00:03:23]They had lower momentum [music] than the objects the team typically analyzed.

[00:03:29]Only after [music] the main experiment was completed did the scientists decide to investigate [music] this side data.

[00:03:37]It turned out that the LHCb detector had the ideal properties to capture [music] this rare process.

[00:03:45]Sigma plus is slightly more stable than other baryons and can travel several meters before decaying. [music] This allowed the detector to precisely record its decay moment.

[00:03:59]This clearly [music] demonstrates the crucial role that chance observations play in science. [music] Like the dark matter detector, which detected an extremely rare atomic decay, the LHCb [music] experiment demonstrated the value of archiving and reanalyzing scientific [music] data.

[00:04:19]While the discovery confirms existing theories rather than refutes them, it expands [music] our understanding of how the universe works.

[00:04:29]It also [music] demonstrates that even the most focused research can yield breakthroughs in completely unexpected areas.

[00:04:39]Science thrives [music] on such surprises.

[00:04:42]The success of this study paves the way for the analysis of extremely rare processes [music] in particle physics and reminds us of the importance of international [music] scientific cooperation within CERN.

[00:04:57]Confirming [music] such a rare process within the standard model is a significant achievement, though perhaps [music] less spectacular than the discovery of an entirely new particle.

[00:05:09]It demonstrates [music] the extraordinary precision of modern research methods.

[00:05:14]>> [music] >> It's worth appreciating that even when science doesn't make revolutionary discoveries, [music] each confirmation of a theory brings us closer >> [music] >> to a more complete understanding of reality.

[00:05:28]It's arduous work, but such is the foundation [music] of progress.

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[00:19:01]>> [music] >> Ooh.