Particle physics

For five years physicists have been tantalized by possible evidence of dark matter in the Milky Way’s center. But new results from small satellite galaxies have complicated the story.

Newly discovered particles are forcing physicists to extend their simple picture of subatomic interactions or replace it with a more nuanced understanding.

Physicists have begun to explore the idea that mass and length may not be fundamental properties of nature. The hypothesis could help to avoid the conclusion that our world is just a weird bubble in an endlessly foaming multiverse.

Surprising oil drop experiments suggest that the quantum world may not be as strange as advertised.

Three groups of experimentalists have independently observed a strange state of matter that forms from three particles of any type and at any scale, from practically infinitesimal to infinite.

New calculations suggest physicists may someday discover a fundamental theory of gravity, but it could require a radical new perspective on the universe.

A new analysis strengthens the case that gamma rays emanating from the center of the Milky Way come from dark matter particles known as WIMPs.

Physicists have completed a new round of searches for the answer to why matter dominates over antimatter. But the radioactive decay that would solve the puzzle is evading them.

As physics prepares for ambitious projects like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the field is seeking new methods of data-driven discovery.