Einstein Strikes Gold Again: Large Hadron Collider Reveals Quarks Follow Relativity Laws!

Have you ever wondered if nature’s heaviest particle behaves differently at certain times of the day? This intriguing question could reveal insights about our universe and the rules that govern it.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, is taking on this challenge. Scientists are investigating whether the top quark, the heaviest elementary particle, follows Einstein’s theory of special relativity all the time.

At the heart of this research is a fundamental principle of physics known as Lorentz symmetry. This principle suggests that all observers, unless they are accelerating, should see the same laws of physics, regardless of their perspective. If Lorentz symmetry were to break down at high energies, the rules of physics might change depending on one’s frame of reference. Such a change could shake the foundations of our current physics models, especially the standard model, which is based on special relativity.

Despite previous attempts, no signs of Lorentz symmetry breaking have been detected at the LHC or other colliders. The team at the LHC’s Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is eager to find any remnants of this potential breaking in the behavior of top quarks.

Top quarks are fascinating particles that play a crucial role in the universe. They are one of six “flavors” of quarks, which are the building blocks of protons and neutrons. Of these, the top quark is the heaviest—about the same weight as a gold atom.

In their research, the CMS team hypothesized that if collisions between protons at near-light speeds depend on orientation, then the production rate of top quark pairs would vary with the time of day, as the Earth rotates. Essentially, this means that the number of quarks generated in collisions could change depending on when the experiments take place.

With data gathered from the LHC’s second run (2015-2018), the CMS collaboration looked for signs of this time-dependent variation. However, they found no evidence of Lorentz symmetry breaking. This means the top quark production rates remained consistent, regardless of what time or direction the proton beams were oriented. In other words, Einstein’s theory of relativity stands strong—even at high-energy collisions!

The LHC is currently undergoing a third, more powerful operating run that began in 2022 and will conclude in 2023. The CMS team is eager to continue their search for Lorentz symmetry breaking in these new, higher-energy collisions. The findings from this research could lead to new explorations involving heavy particles, such as the Higgs boson and other fundamental particles.

In summary, the ongoing research at the LHC shows that, so far, the heavy top quark follows the rules set by Einstein, leaving physicists to ponder what other mysteries of the universe remain to be uncovered.