New Particle? Probably...

This week, the U.S Tevatron accelerator, had some unusual readings in one of their experimental data streams.  The readings, if confirmed, could hint at a new particle.  The existence of this particle would then tend to suggest, that there is a new fundamental force in nature, previously unknown to science.

What does this mean?  Well, it could possibly require a revision of the standard model of particle physics and may lead to a deeper understanding of matter and, (it wouldn't surprise me), if the theory of dark matter / energy, was revised or discarded completely, for a new fundamental theory.  I have personally never accepted the dark mater theory which, to date, has never been fully proved.

But, this new particle discovery, is far from confirmed or certain.  Scientists have stated that, because of rounding errors and with the probability factors; that the experimental data is of a 3 sigma level.  Just to explain, most science is not absolute.  Because of minor inaccuracies in the construction of the experimental equipment, calculation errors carried forward and even down to the uncertainty surrounding quantum processes themselves; you can create spurious data, that can mimic that which would be created, by a new particle or force being discovered.

3 Sigma is accurate to about 1 in 1000, whereas a 5 sigma  level of certainty, is required for this new particle to be hailed as a discovery.  There is already data in existence, from particle accelerators around the world, that can prove or disprove this theory; it will just take time to go through all the lines of code etc, to check these results.