[HN Gopher] Subatomic particle seen changing to antiparticle and...
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Subatomic particle seen changing to antiparticle and back for the
first time
 
Author : jdmark
Score  : 64 points
Date   : 2021-06-12 17:15 UTC (5 hours ago)
 
web link (www.ox.ac.uk)
w3m dump (www.ox.ac.uk)
 
| noizejoy wrote:
| The big programmer in the sky, responsible for the entire
| simulation is having fun introducing new variables, whenever our
| science gets close to the edge of having figured out all of the
| existing variables.
| 
| It's like moving the cheese :-)
 
  | codeulike wrote:
  | _" There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers
  | exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will
  | instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more
  | bizarre and inexplicable.
  | 
  | There is another theory which states that this has already
  | happened."_
  | 
  | -- Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
 
| bolasanibk wrote:
| Duplicate with more discussion.
| 
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27483949
 
| cma wrote:
| The bigger headline is it has some kind of mass difference
| between the two that could explain the antimatter/matter
| imbalance in the universe, a major unsolved physics problem.
| 
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_p...
| (baryon asymmetry)
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | api wrote:
  | If it's toggling back and forth and the mass changes, does this
  | mean its momentum should also be changing since mass-energy are
  | conserved?
  | 
  | Seems to me that if a particle is flapping back and forth on
  | mass and it's energy were not changing this would be extremely
  | weird and maybe even more significant.
  | 
  | They should try to measure this if they haven't already.
 
    | throwaway481048 wrote:
    | Is it not possible there is a (potentially massive) hole in
    | our understanding of physics or perhaps even a whole
    | different set of rules which we have yet to perceive and
    | explore?
    | 
    | I ask because along with the recent onset of quantum
    | mechanics, proposed unified field theories, and the revived
    | discussion of UFO phenomena in the US (specifically regarding
    | US armed forces' interactions with "them"), many state that
    | the operation of these UFOs is simply not possible under our
    | defined laws of physics.
    | 
    | Thus, is it wise for us to assume a rule which has held true
    | in our relatively simple world would not change at a
    | different scales of physics?
    | 
    | I'd think it best to be open minded as we explore these new
    | frontiers, but do know that we are often driven to further
    | understanding by our previous understanding.
    | 
    | Disclaimer: I am NOT a professional working within physics or
    | any directly related field.
 
      | tinco wrote:
      | Yes absolutely possible and also precisely the reason we
      | are looking at these particles. The way science works is
      | that we call these "assumptions" laws because we have never
      | seen them broken and if we do it's likely some other
      | assumption is wrong or our measurements are incorrect. But
      | physics is always based on experiments, and if an
      | experiment would show a violation of the law of
      | conservation, and that experiment is repeatable and no one
      | can find a flaw in it, then the law is changed.
      | 
      | And this is not some idle theory based in idealism, it
      | actually happened in a super real way multiple times the
      | most famous one being when we dropped the Newtonian "laws"
      | for special relativity and quantum physics. No one liked
      | it, no one was happy with it, but physics is about what
      | happens in reality, and reality is what dictates what the
      | laws are.
      | 
      | You probably get some downvotes for the UFO thing, but it
      | doesn't really matter. Scientists don't need UFO's to
      | question their assumptions, but they can be fine
      | inspiration regardless.
 
    | R0b0t1 wrote:
    | The momentum doesn't need to change. If the mass decreases it
    | can just go faster.
 
      | tzs wrote:
      | If the mass changes from m0 to m1, the velocity has to
      | change by a factor of m0/m1 to conserve momentum. But to
      | conserve kinetic energy speed has to change by a factor of
      | sqrt(m0/m1).
      | 
      | Something else has to be involved to reconcile these
      | conflicting velocity constraints.
 
        | kukx wrote:
        | Does the energy need to be conserved in the same form?
 
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