The mirror universe disappears when a neutron hits a wall

outer space

Technology Innovation Website Editor – 07/19/2022

The mirror universe theory did not survive the shock of the boron carbide wall (in the hands of the researcher).
[Imagem: ORNL]

Age of Nutron

It all started with the long-standing question of how long a neutron can live outside the nucleus of an atom.

You are Neutrons form a “shell” around the nucleus of an atom But, like protons, they can break free and have a solitary – albeit short – life.

The most accurate measurement to date, taken last year, states that a free neutron has a lifetime of 877.8 seconds (just under 15 minutes), before it decays into protons, electrons and antineutrons.

This result brought a problem: it did not match what the theory establishes, nor with other experiments. This is interesting because it can refer to “new physics,” as well as the Standard Model of particle physics, as well as being able to provide information about dark matter.

“The age of the neutron is an important factor in the Standard Model because it is used as an input to calculate the quark mixing matrix, which describes the decay rates of quarks,” explained Frank Gonzalez of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States. “If the quarks don’t mix as we expect, this points to new physics beyond the Standard Model.”

Neutron oscillation and the mirror universe

To measure the lifetime of a free neutron, physicists take two approaches, which should come up with the same answer: one traps neutrons in a magnetic bottle and calculates their disappearance; The other counts the protons that appear in the beam when they decay.

It turns out that neutrons appear to live in a beam nine seconds longer than they do in a bottle.

Over the years, many reasons for this discrepancy have been suggested. One theory that a neutron changes from one state to another and vice versa is a quantum mechanical phenomenon known as “Oscillation”, common among neutrinos. “If a neutron can exist as a normal neutron or a mirror, you can have this kind of oscillation, which is a balance between the two states, as long as this transition is not prohibited,” explained researcher Leah Broussard.

It was the possibility of this mirror Nutron that gave birth to the a . theory mirror universeor parallel universea world of mirror particles that would interact with matter particles in our reality through the force of gravity.

In addition to solving a particle physics problem, mirror particles can also shed light on elusive dark matter – mirror neutrons can be dark matter particles that have never been found before – and even on Hubble’s persistent problemwhose value also varies from one type of measurement to another.

A neutron detector where the most accurate measurement of the lifetime of subatomic particles has been made to date.
[Imagem: Michael Pierce/LANL]

The mirror universe theory hits the wall

To test for the presence of mirror particles, Broussard devised an experiment that looked for neutrons oscillating in dark matter like neutrons using a new fading and regeneration technique.

A beam of neutrons was directed at a magnetometer, where a strong magnetic field should increase the number of neutron vibrations between the material and the mirror. Then the beam hit a “wall” made of boron carbide, a powerful absorber of neutrons.

If the neutron is indeed oscillating between the normal and the mirrored state, then when it hits the wall it must interact with the atom’s nuclei and be absorbed by the wall. However, if it were in its theoretical mirror neutron state, nothing would happen because, as a component of dark matter, it would not interact with any known particles.

In other words, on the other side of the wall, only reflective neutrons should appear.

Conclusion: No evidence of neutron oscillation was observed, as all neutrons smashed into the wall, with no sign of neutron oscillations on the other side of the wall. Broussard asserted that “one hundred percent of the neutrons stopped, zero percent passed through the wall.”

Because the rigorous experiment found no evidence of mirror neutrons, physicists say they will have to discard what they now call “the far-fetched theory,” the mirror universe theory altogether.

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