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At first glance, everything was familiar. The clock on the wall was ticking, the car was whistling through the window, and the storybooks you read contained fascinating illustrations. But something's wrong: clocks are going backwards, cars are going backwards on the road, and you're going to write stories from behind. Suddenly you realized that you were looking at your own mirror。
The strange world on the other side of this mirror may seem very unrealistic to you. And leah broussard believes that a parallel universe that turns over everything is likely to exist. She worked with other colleagues at the tennessee oak ridge national laboratory to find a universe that mirrored our universe. There are mirrored atoms, mirrored molecules, mirrored stars and planets, even mirrored life。
Over the past few decades, there have been tempting signs of such a world. Now, there's an experiment ready to test this theory. If the mirror universe exists, it will not only change our perception of reality, but will also answer the doubts of scientists about the universe over the past decades. "the meaning behind this would be very shocking." brewsar said。
The secret world across the mirror
Before that, scientists had discovered the “new world”. In 1928, paul dirac found that quantum mechanics formulas might contain particles that had never been observed before. He suggested that there was another group of microparticles in the universe that could make up exactly the same as the microparticles we know, but the opposite charge. This hidden anti-matter world has doubled the number of microparticles we know。
But this is not over. In 1933, fritz zwicky, a swiss astronomer, found that the rotational characteristics of clusters of galaxies showed that they were subject to a much greater force of gravity than their observable mass could produce。
In the 1970s, astronomer vera rubin of the united states also discovered the phenomenon in the galaxy. Now, we think there are dark matter in each galaxy, which is about 5:1 in proportion to the visible substance. However, despite years of searching in various ways, we have never directly found the substance。
Anti-substance and dark matter have entered the mainstream of scientific research. But perhaps that mysterious new world has been hidden in the dark for more than 60 years, waiting for us to discover it. In 1956, lee jung-do and yang jin-ning discovered that they were unsatisfied. Until then, scientists had assumed that all physical processes would follow a certain symmetry principle. This means that the laws of physics will remain unchanged under some variation。
The symmetry in particle physics is called a wild name. It is stated that when all positions and directions of particles are mirrored, their nature remains unchanged. Lee jung-do and yang jin-ning have proposed an experiment to test the existence of what they call unsustainability. The chinese physicist, oh ken hung, completed the experiment and proved that the claim of non-permanence existed. This critical discovery has led to the award of the nobel prize for physics for next year by lee jung-do and yang jin-ning。
Lee and yang jin-ning gave a somewhat odd explanation for being unsatisfied. They suggested that the claim was in fact constant. We're seeing it because we see only half of the whole picture. “they believe that the observation of these particles in our universe is not consistent because of the existence of opposite particles (anti-particle) elsewhere and the appearance of the same non-suspensiveness,” said zurab berezhiani of the university of l'aquila, italy, “thus, in general, it remains constant.”
This vision of the mirror material world was not accepted at that time, and many of the underlying particle physics challenges still remain. And now researchers like brusar and beregiani are revisiting this idea. According to belegiani, in fact, perhaps we had observed traces of the existence of the mirror world long ago。
Most obviously, we can see another world through neutron behaviour. Neutrons outside the atomic core (free neutrons) form electrons and protons by β decay. For decades, we have been trying to measure the decay time of free neutrons, and the results have always been unharmonized。
Broadly speaking, there are two methods of measuring the decay time of free neutrons - the “bottle” approach and the “beam” approach. The bottle experiment was intuitive: a bunch of neutron beams were placed in the bottle shape using a weak magnetic field and waited quietly. After some time, how many neutrons remain in the statistical landscape. According to this method, the average lifetime of neutrons before decay is 14 minutes and 39 seconds。
The beam experiments measure the number of protons that appear in a array of neutron rays in a nuclear reactor. In this case, protons can only be produced as neutron decay. This method measures an average neutron lifetime of 14 minutes and 48 seconds. And the problem is, “these two results should be the same.” beguiani said。
At first, physicists thought that the nine seconds that had gone out were just experimental errors. But when we constantly improve the laboratory equipment and improve its accuracy, the results become more obvious. On the basis of these two experiments, there appear to be two different neutron decay cycles。
If the mirror world really exists, it should be the cause of the difference in experimental results. The main point of the model was that neutrons would convulse between the two worlds, and belegiani explained: "when the middle passes through the magnetic field, the probability of convulsion increases." it's a shocking theory. The neutron is just a temporary “loaning” to our universe, and it's on the other side of the mirror for the rest of the time, and we can't detect the radioactive protons。
If one of the 100 neutrons happens to travel to the other side of the symmetric world before releasing the proton, then we can't detect the proton that it releases. This explains why neutron decay takes longer in the ray experiment。
Looking for mirror neutrons
The mirror theory can explain a lot. “many puzzles can naturally be interpreted using the same models and parameters. "tang wan peng of notre dame says. The mirror universe model can even provide a reasonable explanation for the existence of dark matter and why it is difficult to detect. “the mirror neutron seems to be a reasonable explanation for the dark matter particles,” the theoretical physicist of maryland university, rabindra mohapatrah, says, “this is convincing.”
When you know how many mirror particles there should be, you find this theory more convincing. In keeping with the early evolution models of the universe, the temperature of the mirrors should be lower than that of our universe. If the heat is too high, it's easier for mirror particles to cross the boundary, increase the gravity of our universe and change the course of evolution of the universe. This temperature difference will make it easier for particles to cross the mirror and go back and forth between mirror universes. The most well explained mirror theory suggests that each particle corresponds to five mirror particles, which coincides with the proportion of dark and visible substances we observe。
Moreover, because these basic particles form stars, planets and human beings, we can reasonably suspect that there are mirrors of life in other universes, or other things that we cannot imagine. "in the mirror universe, the probability of an event is five times that of our universe." bulgian said. Who knows, there might be a mirror that humans are trying to figure out why their universe has five times more dark matter than visible。
The theory is good, but it is difficult to find the corresponding proof. In the four fundamental forces of the universe — electromagnetic power, strong interaction, weak interaction and gravity — “the mirror of the universe can only interact with us through gravity, which is also too weak for experiments”. Yuri kamishkov, a scientist at tennessee university studying mirror matter。
The answer may be hidden in a more sophisticated neutron decay experiment. In 2012, belegiani published a paper on the possibility that mirror neutron signals could be captured in bottle experiments. He suggested that a small fraction of the mirror matter was transferred from earth to our universe. Electric mirror particles (e. G., mirror electrons) produce a mirror magnetic field that increases the likelihood of neutrons crossing through our universe。
The idea was of great interest to klaus kirch of the paul scher research centre in switzerland. They use more sophisticated instruments to detect the probability of mirror magnetic fields affecting neutron decay。
Kirsch thinks it's a little far-fetched, but it's interesting to study. And he said, "i'm not sure i can detect the neutron signal, so we designed the experiment to prove it, and then we looked at the results." the experiment included the application of different magnetic fields to the instrument, and then the ability to influence the number of neutrons in the force chamber. According to kirsch, the experiment is now complete, but his team is still analysing the results。
Brucer is watching with interest. Together with her colleagues at the oak ridge research centre, she was prepared to test the views of belegiani with more sophisticated experiments。
The theory of the experiment is simple: the launch of neutron beams into a thick wall where one neutron cannot penetrate. If neutrons are detected on the other side of the wall, it means that a neutron enters the mirror universe, is not blocked by a thick wall and returns to our universe before it hits the probe. "only neutrons who enter the mirror universe and return can be detected." brussar said。
By changing the strength of the magnetic field on both sides of the thick wall, brusar wanted to see if she could find the right magnetic field strength and shape, thereby increasing the number of neutrons through the wall. “if my figures are correct, then they should be able to observe some phenomena.” beregiani said。
Follow-up experiments
Experimental instruments have been set up and ready to go. Brusar is now in consultation with the experimentors at the oak ridge experiment centre to agree on a suitable time to conduct the experiment. Despite her excitement, she did not expect a breakthrough from the first experiment — no one knows how large a magnetic field can effectively increase the likelihood of particles crossing. "i think we can't detect any neutron." she said. In fact, in the case of brusar, the main purpose of the experiment was to minimize the potential for effective magnetic field intensity。
But if the kielsch team sees a signal that matches the mirror neutron, then brusar and her team can refer to kirsch's results to find the right magnetic field strength. If the presence of the magnetic field changes the number of neutrons in the force, it may prove that the mirror universe exists。
Kamishkov is now cooperating with burusar. “although there is little chance of any outcome, it is a simple and not expensive experiment”, kamishkov said, “if a physics revolution could produce good results, then we must try”
Even if these experiments prove the existence of mirror neutrons, brussar says that we still need a lot of work to prove that it has something to do with dark matter and to find a way to reach other mirror areas. “i want to say this is a good start, but i think there are many challenges ahead.” she said。
What if we don't find the mirror neutron? There's one thing blossal can be sure that mirror theory is not abandoned. "theoretical physicists have been very good at avoiding the traps that experimental physicists have set for them." she said. But given the problems that physicists cannot explain in their current theory, you should be able to understand why they are looking for answers in the mirror。
Https://www. Newscientist. Com/article/mg242330-200-weve-seen-signs-of-a-mirror-image-universe-it-is-touching-our-own/
Relevant papers:
Magnetic anomaly in ucn,
Https://arxiv. Org/abs/1203. 1035
The june 2019 magazine everything
It's all new
