In the field of particle physics, ghost particles have been a matter of debate for quite some time. We don’t know if they exist but if they do, they surely hide a lot of secrets about how our world works on a fundamental level. Now CERN has greenlit a new round of experiments to start hunting these ghosts.
Particle Physics 101
Understanding particle physics is above most people’s pay grades, but anybody can glean the basics. Researchers isolate and track some of the smallest matter in existence, analyzing how its behavior changes under different conditions.
Most famously, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN crashes particles into one another to see what comes flying out.
To better analyze the aftermath of those clashes, they use very sophisticated simulation equipment to create teachable models. This includes powerful physics simulation, something typically reserved for entertainment uses nowadays.
Those who don’t crash subatomic particles into one another, it’s much more likely to come across simulated physics in a plinko gambling game or other games that rely on falling pixels. Other gaming technologies like VR have even been used by particle researchers to get up close and personal with their data models.
Ghost Particles Explained
Ghost particles are just those that aren’t represented by the Standard Model – the 17 particle types currently known to us. This model is subject to change, as happened in 2012 when the Higgs-Boson particle was discovered after an excruciating 40-year search. Up to now, we can use physics to justify most of what happens on Earth.
However, things become a lot more complex when observing space phenomena. Distant galaxies move differently, so particle physicists believe they’re subject to particles that we haven’t discovered yet.
The Earth exists in that space, so it would mean the same particles pass straight through Earth without leaving any identifiable trace. Naturally, the name ghost particles stuck.
The prevailing theory is that these particles may bleed into Standard Model particles, making them detectable but only in rare, fleeting moments.
If that’s true, and if the particles exist, we could learn a lot about the universe. That’s a lot of ifs, but now a new experiment has been greenlit to try and find more answers.
The SHiP Experiment
As stated, most particles get crashed together in instruments like the Large Hadron Collider. Now the new Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) plans to crash particles into a static material instead. This guarantees that all particles are broken, splitting into smaller particles.
This creates even more reactions, hopefully increasing the astronomically small chances that a ghost particle will appear and get caught by one of the standard particles.
To carry out SHiP, CERN is retrofitting its Large Hadron Collider to adequately detect ghost particles. This is a time-consuming process which is why the experiment won’t officially begin until 2030. The upside is that it’s quite cheap compared to CERN’s other activities, at just $100 million.
For context, CERN is in the planning stage to build another, larger collider next to its existing one, and that project will start at $12 billion.
