A TINY discrepancy in the magnetism of the muon, a rare subatomic particle, may signal a crack in the standard model of particle physics. It could turn out to be the first piece of hard evidence for a more complete theory called supersymmetry, say experimenters at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.
During its 30-year life, the cobbled-together standard model has described the world of subatomic particles with astounding accuracy. Yet physicists are dying to find a more satisfying description of the microscopic world. “We did this experiment to confront the standard model,” says Gerry Bunce of Brookhaven. “That’s the…
