Rethinking the Universe: New Findings Rewrite Rules of Subatomic Matter

By Mississippi State University May 27, 2025

Collected at: https://scitechdaily.com/rethinking-the-universe-new-findings-rewrite-rules-of-subatomic-matter/

Quarks unexpectedly breaking symmetry in a recent experiment may transform our fundamental understanding of matter and the forces that hold it together.

Mississippi State University Professor of Physics Dipangkar Dutta is leading a groundbreaking experiment that is reshaping our understanding of the universe. His team’s research, recently published in the prestigious journal Physics Letters B, shows that the concept of “symmetry” in physics does not always behave the way scientists have long believed.

For generations, symmetry has been a central idea in physics, helping researchers explain how nature works on the smallest and largest scales. These new findings push the boundaries of what we know and open exciting possibilities for advances in energy, technology, medicine, and more.

The experiment took place at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Researchers discovered that quarks, the tiny particles that make up protons and neutrons, sometimes act in surprising ways. When struck by high-energy electrons, quarks do not always split and recombine symmetrically, challenging long-standing theories in nuclear physics.

Redefining the Boundaries of the Strong Force

The research team’s high-precision measurements challenge the status quo and offer new insight into the strong force that binds subatomic particles. These findings may impact how future experiments interpret quark behavior and the structure of matter.

“The assumptions we make based on symmetries greatly simplify our analyses,” said Dutta, a faculty member in the MSU Department of Physics and Astronomy. “But they haven’t been tested quantitatively with precision until now. Our new results show when the symmetries are valid and when they need certain corrections.”

By uncovering symmetry violations, Dutta and his collaborators are helping refine the theoretical tools physicists use to study subatomic behavior. Their work also lays the groundwork for future studies into other, more subtle symmetries, potentially revealing more about the inner workings of protons and neutrons—the particles that form the core of every atom.

Reference: “Flavor dependence of charged pion fragmentation functions” by H. Bhatt, P. Bosted, S. Jia, W. Armstrong, D. Dutta, R. Ent, D. Gaskell, E. Kinney, H. Mkrtchyan, S. Ali, R. Ambrose, D. Androić, C. Ayerbe Gayoso, A. Bandari, V. Berdnikov, D. Bhetuwal, D. Biswas, M. Boer, E. Brash, A. Camsonne and X. Zheng, 17 April 2025, Physics Letters B.
DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2025.139485

Funding: U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. National Science Foundation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada