Popular Science, The Fifth Force of Nature | Approaching the discovery of the fifth natural force: – Like discovering a new world

Researchers at Fermilab outside Chicago, US, are getting closer to discovering a fifth force of nature. This was written by many media, among others BBC.

The main theory for a long time was that there are four fundamental forces that can explain how the entire universe is connected on a particle level. These are gravity, electromagnetism, the weak and strong nuclear forces, which are referred to in physics as the Standard Model.

– It will be like discovering a new world

However, researchers have for several years seen signs that a fifth force might exist, and discovering this could revolutionize our understanding of how our world is built.

Lego blocks are missing from our understanding of the universe. This will be like discovering a new world, says Richard Brenner, professor of particle physics at Uppsala University. Aftonbladet.

Scientists suspected the existence of a fifth force for a long time, after observing it It behaves in a way that cannot be explained by the Standard Model. So they think it is this unknown fifth force that acts on the particles and makes them behave as they do. No one knows yet what this fifth force might be.

– It is impossible to say. But all forces have a field, for example gravity. Brenner explains that if there is a fifth force, we live within its domain.

dark matter

According to the researchers, the suspicion that this is now the case has been strengthened, and the level of uncertainty in measurements has been halved. Within two years, they believe they have enough data to prove the existence of the fifth force of nature.

– We are already exploring new territories. The measurements have better accuracy than ever before, Dr Brendan Casey of Fermilabs tells the BBC.

The fifth power theory is currently hypothetical, but Brenner does not rule out that this may be the key to understanding. .

From a theoretical point of view, we know that dark matter exists and that something must be in contact with it. But we have too few dark Lego pieces in our box to understand how the universe is built. We need to expand the Standard Model. Brenner says it’s like discovering a new world or finding a new continent on Earth.