2. What is muone? What did Chris Polly, a physicist, notice that was unusual in their behavior?
3. How does this recent experiment at Fermilab relate to a similar experiment at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in 2001?
4. What did Dr. Polly mean when he asked, “What monsters might be hiding there?” Do you have the same curiosity about the importance of the deviant behavior of the muon? Why or why not?
5. What is needed to confirm experimental results as a physics discovery? What’s next in the process for the muon experiment?
6. What kind of questions can the muon experiment answer? Have you ever wondered about questions like in the article?
7. How did physicists react to the April 7 announcement of the first results of the Muon g-2 experiment presented in Fermilab? What do you think of the results?
Go on
Option 1: Read the rest of the article.
Here are some guidelines to help you reflect on what you are learning as you read the following sections:
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“Who ordered it?” – What else did you learn about muons, the g-factor and the original experiment in Brookhaven?
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The big move – What details did you notice about preparations for the Fermilab experiment?
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In the dark – What new information did you get about the results of the Fermilab experiment?
Then respond to the last paragraphs of the article:
Physicists say the anomaly gave them ideas to search for new particles. Among them are particles that are light enough to be within the grasp of the Large Hadron Collider or its projected successor. Some may have been recorded, but are so rare that it has not yet emerged from the blizzard of the data recorded by the instrument.
According to Gordan Krnjaic, a cosmologist at Fermilab, another candidate could solve the Z-prime a few puzzles in the big bang.
The g-2 result, he said in an email, could determine the agenda for physics in the next generation.
“If the central value of the observed anomaly remains, the new particles cannot hide forever,” he said. “We will learn a lot more about fundamental physics going forward.”
What do you think? How big do you think your results are? And to what new discoveries do you think the ongoing Muon g-2 experiment will lead?
Option 2: Explain one or more of the concepts discussed in the article via a creative piece.
Mouth particles, the g-factor and the standard model may not be familiar terms for most teenagers – or for most adults. Take one or more of the ideas you learned by watching the video during the warm-up activity and reading the Times article, and help break it down by making a creative piece. Your goal is to help people not understand particle physics well.