{
  "id": 17981892,
  "title": "Physicists step closer to the 'Zeptoverse' after 42-year particle search",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/03/physicists-step-closer-to-the-zeptoverse-after-42-year-particle-search",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-11-03T15:40:30.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-11-physicists-closer-zeptoverse-year-particle.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "After a 42-year search, physicists have discovered evidence of a rare particle decay, bringing them closer to exploring the unseen realm known as the Zeptoverse. This minuscule realm, at a distance of a billionth of a trillionth of a meter, is where new particles and forces of nature might be hiding. The University of Manchester researchers played a crucial role in the LHCb experiment, which underwent major upgrades that now collect data at a rate five times faster than before. The detector technology developed at Manchester, including the Vertex Locator, is essential for pinpointing the location of particle production and decay within the LHC beams. The decay under scrutiny, known as Bd to mu mu, occurs so infrequently—around once in every 10 billion beauty particles—that no single experiment had previously detected it. The new measurement, with a statistical significance of 3.2 sigma, is sufficient to confirm the decay's existence, albeit not yet at the five-sigma level required for a full discovery. This discovery allows physicists to test the Standard Model of particle physics with greater precision and search for signs of particles or forces beyond it. While the results align with the Standard Model predictions, increasingly precise measurements of such rare decays could reveal new physics and help determine where the current model may falter. The upgraded LHCb experiment is expected to gather a much larger data set over the next decade, enabling even more precise studies of these decays and potentially uncovering undiscovered particles at even smaller distances.",
  "summary": "Physicists have found evidence of a particle decay so rare that it is expected to occur only around once in every 10 billion \"beauty\" particles. The result, from the upgraded LHCb experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), follows a search spanning more than 40 years and brings physicists closer to exploring the \"Zeptoverse\"—an unexplored world that exists at distances of a billionth of a…",
  "key_points": [
    "Physicists find evidence of rare particle decay after 42-year search",
    "University of Manchester researchers crucial to LHCb experiment upgrades",
    "Decay Bd to mu mu detected with 3.2 sigma significance, confirming existence"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}