• xkforce@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If what theyre seeing is real, it could indicate the presence of unknown particles. Not necessarily a force but something. Essentially quantum mechanics predicts that the magnetic moment of the electron, muon etc. are a little bit off from what would be expected without interactions with the quantum foam. Space isnt empty, there are virtual particles popping into and out of existence constantly over short time periods that still manage to interact with other things before they dissappear. This quantum foam’s effects on the magnetic moment of electrons, muons etc. depend on what particles are in that quantum foam. The standard model can be used to predict the magnitude of these effects given what particles it predicts should be in that foam. But if there’s more particles there that it doesn’t predict should be there, the magnetic moment measurement won’t quite match predictions. I.e if there is stuff in the quantum foam that we don’t know about, we can infer their existence through indirect effects.