Science News

In a new paper, researchers hypothesize the existence of mirror particles to explain the anomalous loss of neutrons observed experimentally.

Physicists in Austria and Japan are the first to measure two physical quantities that were used in 1927 by Werner Heisenberg in an early formulation of quantum mechanics – but then abandoned because the terms did not seem to agree with the rapidly-evolving theory. The neutron experiment verifies a 2003 reformulation of Heisenberg's famous uncertainty principle that reintroduces the concepts of error and disturbance.

The notion of multiple universes is one that cosmologists like to theorize about but generally don’t relish proving, mainly because doing so would be very difficult. But a team of researchers that showed a few years ago how matter might travel between our universe and others now think they ought to be able to observe this phenomenon in action using existing technology, lending credence to the multiverse theory. All they need is a neutron bottle, some neutrons, and a year.