Several Nikhef physicists have responded and explained in the media to news of new measurements of the mass of the W particle. Those measurements fall outside the expectations of the standard model of particle physics. This could indicate yet unknown new particles.
In de Volkskrant, Sijbrand de Jong, Ivo van Vulpen and Paul de Jong of Nikhef say (in Dutch) they are impressed by the measurements of the CDF experiment at Fermilab in the US. “I really didn’t see this coming at all. If the result holds up, it will be of incredible importance to particle physics,” said Van Vulpen.
The W particle is one of the fundamental force carriers in particle physics. The particle carries the weak nuclear force. In the new measurements, its mass appears to be substantially different. The W mass is 0.01 percent larger than expected but thus does not fit well into the standard model, the imaginary cube of elementary particles from which matter is built.
Earlier, less precise measurements from other experiments did not show this discrepancy. For example, the ATLAS experiment at CERN, part Dutch, will certainly look more closely at the W mass, says Tristan du Pree in the paper.
The original research paper appeared in Science this week. NRC-Handelsblad also paid attention to the new results, as well as foreign magazines, media and websites.