Rare particle-decay evidence offers a new probe of the zeptoverse

A Cambridge-led team has found evidence for an exceptionally rare beauty-particle decay into two muons using the LHCb experiment at CERN. The results were announced on November 3, so this is an explanation of that research rather than a new November 11 discovery.

The decay is predicted to happen in roughly one in ten billion beauty particles. Combining recent and earlier data produced a statistical significance of 3.2 sigma, above the evidence threshold but below the five-sigma standard for a confirmed observation.

The result agrees with the Standard Model. Precise measurements could help constrain particles too heavy to produce directly, but scientists have not discovered dark matter through this experiment. Further data and confirmation are needed.