Particle Physics Anomaly Quietly Disappears

The particle physics anomaly which attracted the most attention in the past years was a slight violation of a symmetry known as “lepton universality” discovered in LHC data. It was also sometimes called the B-meson anomaly. This anomaly had been widely reported as a possible sign of physics beyond the standard model, for example here. In a recent analysis of data from the LHCb experiment, the anomaly is gone and the results are compatible with the standard model.

Astrophysicists Claim That Dark Matter Explains Milky-Way Satellite Alignment

A group of researchers from Durham University claims that the standard model of cosmology (ΛCDM), which works with cold dark matter particles, can properly explain why small satellite galaxies around the Milky Way are roughly aligned in a disk. This claim is perplexing because the results largely agree with those of earlier papers which have found that the alignment is possible but unlikely with dark matter, giving it a probability of 2-3% to temporarily appear.The paper also ignores that the same alignments have been found in a number of other galaxies, which makes it vastly less probable to have happened with dark matter. Marcel Pawlowski has more information here. 

Geoengineering Startup Goes Rogue

Climate scientists have warned of it for a long time and it’s now happened: A small startup pushes forward with injecting particles into the upper atmosphere in an attempt to block sunlight and reduce global warming. The company is called Make Sunsets and is launching balloons from a site in Mexico. There are currently no laws or treaties that regulate weather modification or climate engineering and I’m afraid we will in the future see more companies doing this.Injecting large amounts of particles into the atmosphere would not undo the effects of increasing carbon dioxide levels, but rather create another climate scenario. It might bring down temperatures but would not, eg, reduce ocean acidification. The consequences for precipitation and wind patterns are unknown. 

How to Control Chaos

In this week’s video we take a dive into the topic of chaos control, especially its role in controlling nuclear fusion reactions.

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Existential Physics: The Big Questions Raised by Modern Physics

A contrarian scientist wrestles with the big questions that modern physics raises, and what physics says about the human condition. Order it here today!