If you’ve ever taken a physics course that covered elementary particle physics, you’re probably familiar with the Standard Model – the theory that best describes three of the four fundamental forces at work in the universe and explains how these forces act on all of the matter particles.

However, new results released by the U.S. Energy Department’s Fermilab in April 2021 has those working in the field of particle physics questioning the way we think the universe works, leaving them both “baffled and thrilled.”

Read about this exciting discovery in the AP article “Tantalizing Results of 2 Experiments Defy Physics Rulebook” and in the Fermilab news release.

Read more about the Standard Model:

• A comprehensive background article is found in the Gale Virtual Reference Library
• The Cern website

If you don’t know anything about particle physics, start with Introducing Particle Physics: A Graphic Guide, Ref. QC793.26.W49 2013, located in the Spark Collection in the library.

Image courtesy of Fermilab
https://fnal.gov/