Physicists Hope to Probe Standard Model with Misshapen Radium Monofluoride
Researchers in the US and elsewhere have measured the hyperfine structure of radium monofluoride with high precision, making it possible to observe the effects of the finite size of the nuclear magnetisation for the first time.
This breakthrough could help physicists investigate the standard model and search for signs of dark matter or matter-antimatter asymmetry, which some theories predict could be detected by tiny shifts in energy frequencies.
Effect never observed in a molecule could help adjudicate between competing models of nuclear structure
- Radium monofluoride's unique properties make it an ideal candidate for probing the standard model.
- Tiny shifts in energy frequencies could indicate signs of dark matter or matter-antimatter asymmetry.
Author's summary: Radium monofluoride helps probe standard model.