We Are Close to Understanding How Matter Interacts on the Tiniest Scale

[DooKey]

Physicists have made a groundbreaking discovery about the nature of subatomic particles – and it's helping explain a theory that's been around since the 1950s. The Large Hadron Collider has been searching for years to understand how subatomic particles interact with each other, but group of physicists have developed a theory that predicts how particles interact and it appears to work. It's called BFKL dynamics and now the QCD description fits the data. In a nut shell we're starting to further understand how matter works and in the long run that's a good thing for future technology. This kind of stuff is fascinating. Read the paper here.

It’s been a big few weeks for physics. First, in what is probably the announcement of the year, we managed to see the birth of a black hole in real time. And now, on the completely other end of the scale, we’re starting to get to grips with how the tiniest possible bits of matter interact.

 

[Youn]

Semantics aside, is there such a thing as a "tiniest scale" or does it just get tinier and tinier the more we understand things?

 

[bigdogchris]

Semantics aside, is there such a thing as a "tiniest scale" or does it just get tinier and tinier the more we understand things?

I believe the Planck length is considered the smallest interval. Anything shorter distance is irrelevant to our universe.

https://futurism.com/the-smallest-possible-length/

 

[Ultima99]

Supposedly stuff like quarks are indivisible and making them true elementary particles.

 

[ZenDragon]

Great! I was looking for some light reading over lunch.

 

[Kalabalana]

Any physicists care to share a synopsis?

 

[_l_]

just as the deeper man looks into space and sees it just keeps on going, so it is with looking at subatomic particles. Both are as infinite as God because He made it all ...

 

[SecretStash]

I believe the Planck length is considered the smallest interval. Anything shorter distance is irrelevant to our universe.

https://futurism.com/the-smallest-possible-length/

That article didn't give a helpful explanation. They were using analogies to say that a smaller unit could never be discovered. Guess I'll have to search the web more to get understanding on this topic.

 

[bigdogchris]

That article didn't give a helpful explanation. They were using analogies to say that a smaller unit could never be discovered. Guess I'll have to search the web more to get understanding on this topic.

I'm not sure if they say this on that site, but you can only concentrate energy so far into a specific point, even at infinitesimally small spaces, before it collapses into a singularity, so practically speaking you can only get "so small". Plank length is 0.00000000000000000001 the size of a proton.

 

[SecretStash]

I'm not sure if they say this on that site, but you can only concentrate energy so far into a specific point, even at infinitesimally small spaces, before it collapses into a singularity, so practically speaking you can only get "so small". Plank length is 0.00000000000000000001 the size of a proton.

Sure, makes sense as a projection. We have to stop somewhere, right? And that's the smallest unit we can make sense of. Will this be a confirmed fact 10000 years from now.

 

[bigdogchris]

Sure, makes sense as a projection. We have to stop somewhere, right? And that's the smallest unit we can make sense of. Will this be a confirmed fact 10000 years from now.

The scientific method says nothing is absolute. "Facts" are only theories that are least likely to be wrong, closely match predictions, can be reproduced with peer review, and meet stringent confidence levels. What we know now will change in some ways as more evidence is gathered.

 

[Hagrid]

Supposedly stuff like quarks are indivisible and making them true elementary particles.

That is where string theory comes in to play.

 

[Hagrid]

That article didn't give a helpful explanation. They were using analogies to say that a smaller unit could never be discovered. Guess I'll have to search the web more to get understanding on this topic.

In order to see these tiny objects you need light. The wavelength of light is bigger than the objects, so it won't work.(I think this is right)

 

[Ur_Mom]

The scientific method says nothing is absolute.

In my eyes, the Jedi are evil.

So... give this info to Intel and AMD. Let's get the 7nm stuff to look huge.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Any physicists care to share a synopsis?

Ummm some particle physicists did some tests, and the results didn't jive so much with one theory but instead with another theory... that and these particular particle physicists seem to be feel very threatened by astrophysicists it seems as he kept mentioning stuff like "sure it's not neutron stars merging" "not gravitational waves" which is very odd because it's not like they both study remotely the same area.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Supposedly stuff like quarks are indivisible and making them true elementary particles.

Standard model has had them elementary particles for quite some time.

 

[Dekoth-E-]

just as the deeper man looks into space and sees it just keeps on going, so it is with looking at subatomic particles. Both are as infinite as God because He made it all ...

Also Santa Claus is real.

 

[lilbabycat]

Supposedly stuff like quarks are indivisible and making them true elementary particles.

unless the next size down is extra-tiny and a quark is made up of thousands of said next-factor-down particle

 

[c3k]

Read the article a few minures ago. Not the whole thing. Okay, just the first sentence. Need a little assist. Does NNLO particles stand for Nano Nano Little Objects?

Once I get that sorted, I'm sure the rest of it will make sense.

 

[Hagrid]

Standard model has had them elementary particles for quite some time.

Which can change with new findings. New theories are always good since they challenge it.

 

[c_porter]

Read the article a few minures ago. Not the whole thing. Okay, just the first sentence. Need a little assist. Does NNLO particles stand for Nano Nano Little Objects?

Once I get that sorted, I'm sure the rest of it will make sense.

next to next to leading order.