An 'extraparticle' is a hypothetical or theoretical particle that exists outside of the Standard Model of particle physics. It's a term used to describe a particle that has properties or interactions not explained by the currently accepted fundamental building blocks of the universe and their interactions, as described by the Standard Model. Extraparticles could be proposed to explain phenomena such as dark matter, dark energy, neutrino masses, or other observed experimental results that the Standard Model cannot account for. They are often associated with theories beyond the Standard Model, such as supersymmetry, string theory, or Grand Unified Theories, which predict new particles or forces. The existence of extraparticles is a subject of ongoing research, and their discovery would represent a significant leap in our understanding of the universe. Detection methods include observing their indirect effects on known particles or directly producing them in high-energy particle accelerators.
Extraparticle meaning with examples
- Scientists are actively searching for extraparticles predicted by supersymmetry, hoping to observe their decay signatures in the Large Hadron Collider. These particles might help explain the hierarchy problem, a discrepancy in the Standard Model.
- The search for dark matter often involves looking for weakly interacting massive extraparticles (WIMPs), which, if they exist, would rarely interact with ordinary matter and be hard to detect directly. These extraparticles are a potential candidate for dark matter.
- In some theoretical frameworks, extraparticles called axions are proposed to resolve the strong CP problem, addressing an asymmetry that the Standard Model predicts and that is not observed in experiments. They are extremely difficult to observe.
- Certain models of extraparticles, such as sterile neutrinos, are proposed to explain the small but non-zero masses of neutrinos, another phenomenon unexplained by the Standard Model of particle physics. These particles might only weakly interact with standard particles.
- High-energy experiments are designed to potentially produce or identify extraparticles and indirectly infer their existence through their decay products, searching for deviations from the Standard Model predictions.