When quarks misbehave, symmetry breaks down and changes the rules of physics
Scientists experimenting at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Virginia observed unusual up quark and down quark behavior, suggesting that charge symmetry doesn’t always hold, at least not during fragmentation.
For decades, physicists have relied on the principle of symmetry to simplify and understand the complex behaviors of subatomic particles. Symmetry in physics basically means that some rules of nature stay the same even if you change things around.
This idea has served as one of the foundations of nuclear physics, helping scientists build models of how matter behaves at the smallest scales. However, a team of researchers led by Mississippi State University (MSU) professor Dipangkar Dutta has found cracks in this foundation.