High-energy physics: Proton smasher spots rare particle decays.

Abstract

The extremely rare decays of particles known as neutral B mesons have been observed at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The result may be a glimpse of physics beyond that of the standard model of particle physics. See Letter p.68 When searching for physics beyond the standard model of particle physics, one promising route is to consider processes at very high energies that can be produced in particle colliders. Here, the CMS and LHCb collaborations working at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the largest particle accelerator in the world, report the observation of the extremely rare decay of a B meson into muons. In this decay, discrepancies from the standard model predictions might point towards supersymmetry which is thought to be a plausible candidate for a theory beyond the standard model. The combined results from the CMS and LHCb collaborations, however, confirm the standard model and do not show any signs of supersymmetry. The restart of the Large Hadron Collider this spring with higher operation energies will increase the production rate of B mesons and might bring new surprises and constraints for theories beyond the standard model of particle physics.