We may soon be able to prove the existence of parallel universes with neutrons. - Polidicks

[quote][B]Physicists Claim Neutrons May Travel to Parallel World[/B] [I]An anomaly in the behavior of ordinary particles may point to the existence of mirror particles that could be candidates for dark matter responsible for the missing mass of the Universe, a team of theoretical physicists has claimed.[/I] In a paper, published in European Physical Journal C, the team hypothesized the existence of mirror particles to explain the anomalous loss of neutrons observed experimentally. The existence of such mirror matter had been suggested in various scientific contexts some time ago, including the search for suitable dark matter candidates. Dr Zurab Berezhiani and Dr Fabrizio Nesti, theoretical physicists at the University of l’Aquila, Italy, reanalyzed the experimental data obtained by the research group of Dr Anatoly Serebrov at the Institut Laue-Langevin, France. It showed that the loss rate of very slow free neutrons appeared to depend on the direction and strength of the magnetic field applied. This anomaly could not be explained by known physics. “It could be interpreted in the light of a hypothetical parallel world consisting of mirror particles,” Dr Berezhiani said. “Each neutron would have the ability to transition into its invisible mirror twin, and back, oscillating from one world to the other. The probability of such a transition happening was predicted to be sensitive to the presence of magnetic fields, and could therefore be detected experimentally.” This neutron-mirror-neutron oscillation could occur within a timescale of a few seconds. The possibility of such a fast disappearance of neutrons – much faster than the ten-minute long neutron decay – albeit surprising, could not be excluded by existing experimental and astrophysical limits. This interpretation is subject to the condition that the earth possesses a mirror magnetic field on the order of 0.1 Gauss. Such a field could be induced by mirror particles floating around in the galaxy as dark matter. Hypothetically, the earth could capture the mirror matter via some feeble interactions between ordinary particles and those from parallel worlds.[/quote] [url=http://www.sci-news.com/physics/article00400.html]Source[/url] This can either end up being very disturbing or bloody awesome. And yes, I realise this is extremely sensationalist.

The title is the most interesting part of this. Couldn't understand article

So could we somehow use these particles to send messages to parallel universes? :v:

[QUOTE=evlbzltyr;36403815]So could we somehow use these particles to send messages to parallel universes? :v:[/QUOTE] Unlikely. Ignoring the fact that you can't exactly wrap a letter around a neutron, they also like to decay into a proton, an electron and an antielectron neutrino.

ITT: nobody will understand what the hell the article said but will act as if they do. I could be wrong, but as I understand it Facepunch isn't exactly made up of geniuses. :v:

Cave Johnson here. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPWs6ioNZoI[/media]

The implications of this would be enormous. Really fucking enormous.

We can't prove parallel universes because their existence is just as implausible and dependant on "lolmagic" as Go- oh wait. Not actual sci-fi parallel universes with all that bull? "Sensationalist headlines" *facedesk*

I'll hold back before being excited. I didn't even understand the article right.

Mmhmm, it sounds like a lot of speculation and mumbo-jumbo being thrown around. Call me back when we see an actual parallel universe, preferably one where everyone has an evil goatee-wearing counterparts (except for the people who already have evil goatees in this universe).

[QUOTE=Bomimo;36404224]We can't prove parallel universes because their existence is just as implausible and dependant on "lolmagic" as Go- oh wait. Not actual sci-fi parallel universes with all that bull? "Sensationalist headlines" *facedesk*[/QUOTE] I can't make heads or tails of what you're trying to say with this post.

Are they sure that the neutron is switching to it's other form of existence and not that the magnetic field acts as a "cloaking device" for the neutron?

[QUOTE=Bomimo;36404224]We can't prove parallel universes because their existence is just as implausible and dependant on "lolmagic" as Go- oh wait. Not actual sci-fi parallel universes with all that bull? "Sensationalist headlines" *facedesk*[/QUOTE] 100 years ago they thought if you went faster than 60km/h you'd get permanent brain damage. Basically, you're a fool.

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;36404426]I can't make heads or tails of what you're trying to say with this post.[/QUOTE] Perhaps he was torn between starting a useless Facepunch religious debate, expressing disappointment at the perceived underwhelming discovery of parallel universes, and criticizing the OP thread title, then decided to throw it into a blending machine and shazaam! We have incoherency On topic: I'm with the others in that I won't pretend I completely understand this, but if we're able to discover other realities with something like neutrons, color me impressed.

The article is so bad. It's like someone had all the facts given by someone who understood them and then had to craft sentences out of them without understanding anything.

[QUOTE=Killuah;36404980]The article is so bad. It's like someone had all the facts given by someone who understood them and then had to craft sentences out of them without understanding anything.[/QUOTE] Which I feel is often the case.

I want to see a better article about this, and I want to see the response from the rest of the physics community instead of a group of theoretical physicists.

I don't think I would ever want to contact the parallel universe Strong social people that are angry and unfunny

Well, from what I can understand from the article, it basically goes like this: These individuals (and presumably others) have noticed that there have been fairly consistent disappearances in neutrons as they apply various and specific tests to said neutrons. Which is to say they start with X amount of neutrons, and end up with Y amount of neutrons, where X > Y. It seems that they have noticed a pattern in the rate of neutron disappearance, and it seems that different directions and magnitudes of magnetic field applications (which implies they are applying magnetic fields to neutrons in these experiments). For demonstration purposes, an example would be that they have noticed that applying a magnetic field of magnitude X in the North direction causes 5 neutrons to disappear, whereas applying that same field but in the South direction causes 7 to disappear. [b]However[/b], these scientists have not been able to find any explanation in physics as to [b]why[/b] these neutrons are disappearing. Because of this, this particular team is asserting a hypothesis that the neutrons are transitioning into a sort of "parallel state." As the article puts it, these neutrons are "transitioning into an invisible mirror state." That's [b]my[/b] interpretation of this article, anyways. If anyone sees any holes or flaws in my interpretation, please feel free to point them out. Just posting this here because the article is a bit too concise and doesn't really explain what it is talking about. This is here for people who are wondering what the article is trying to say, but don't feel like trying to work out what the article is trying to say. Personally, I feel that this is a bit of a jump, and I don't think it should be published. "We're losing neutrons when we do these experiments!" "Well, what's causing the disappearances?" "We can't figure it out!" "[b]IT MUST BE A PARALLEL UNIVERSE![/b]" Seems a bit extreme to me, personally. :v:

[QUOTE=GameDev;36405100]I don't think I would ever want to contact the parallel universe Strong social people that are angry and unfunny[/QUOTE] so basically facepunchers with social abilities?

So, if I read the article correctly, there are mirror particles that stay true to their name and mirror our universe? And vice versa. The would mean that this exact conversation is going on in this mirror universe. Unless I mis-understood this article.

What if nothing happens because the other universe does the same thing with a neutron in [I]their[/I] universe and it just replaces ours and vice versa.

I think this article is trying to link the missing mass (assumed) of atoms to dark matter, then comparing that, that dark matter could be the link between our world of understanding. Im not sure how they tied it all together into another paralleled world though

A principle of interdimensional "equivalent exchange", unrelated to the fictional alchemical version, sounds interesting; if it could be "agitated" to work on protons and electrons as well, perhaps some rudimentary form of interdimensional travel would be theoretically possible... This is assuming that the missing neutrons do in fact go between dimensions and don't simply "evaporate" due to some other kind of quantum phenomena.

[QUOTE=KarloMcMarlo;36403935]ITT: nobody will understand what the hell the article said but will act as if they do. I could be wrong, but as I understand it Facepunch isn't exactly made up of geniuses. :v:[/QUOTE] dude, reading internet articles and wikipedia pages means I know this stuff. GOSH.

I think its more likely that neutrons can just be induced to decay in magnetic fields, and these guys don't have the tools to detect the resulting particles. Or maybe they do, and this actually is the only reasonable explanation they could come up with. Still, it's really bizarre.

[QUOTE=DarkendSky;36409399]I think its more likely that neutrons can just be induced to decay in magnetic fields, and these guys don't have the tools to detect the resulting particles. Or maybe they do, and this actually is the only reasonable explanation they could come up with. Still, it's really bizarre.[/QUOTE] Neutrons are actually really unstable, so I doubt it's that they "induce decay".

Time to visit the universe where everyone has cowboy hats, Peace out assholes! On topic though, that sounds like a badass claim.

Does anyone actually know what's happening here?

Article makes me aroused.