Scientists from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland have recorded an extremely rare process of particle decay. According to experts, the event opens a new path to physics research. The discovery is reported on the official CERN website.
The research team managed to detect the decay of a charged kaon (a type of elementary particle) into a charged pion and a neutrino-antineutrino pair. According to the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, such events occur with a probability of less than one in 10 billion, or 10-11.
Kaons are created by a high-intensity proton beam generated by CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron. The beam slams into a stationary target, generating a stream of secondary particles, of which about 6% are charged kaons.
During the experiments, the team achieved conditions under which the proportion of kaons decaying into a pion and a pair of neutrinos was 13 per 100 billion particles.
According to the scientists, the results of the experiment require further study and may pave the way for the study of new, as yet unknown principles of particle physics beyond the SM. Analysis of the data is expected to take several years.
