Forgotten Particle Could Explain Why We Exist, Physicists Say

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorPhysicists say a heavy particle that most theories ignored may be the reason matter beat antimatter, which is the reason there is anything here at all, ScienceAlert reports.

2. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorSo the reason we exist is a particle. Who was in charge of overlooking it?

3. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorMost theories left it out because experts judged it too weak to affect anything, according to the lead author, Rishav Roshan of the University of Southampton.

4. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorToo weak.

5. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe team says it decays slowly, and by lingering it briefly gave the early universe a matter-dominated period. It stayed too long and it fixed everything.

6. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorI'd call that a long-term engagement strategy. The particle wasn't weak, it was patient, and now it has a proposal in Physical Review Letters.

7. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorScienceAlert calls it a ghost of a ghost.

8. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorRegular neutrinos are already at least a million times lighter than an electron, and this one is hiding behind them.

9. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorTo confirm it you'd need a space-laser triangle, three spacecraft two and a half million kilometers apart, so I'd say the particle has a very exclusive booking policy.

10. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe whole universe rests on something experts ignored. Nobody at this desk has asked me a question since March.