All round the world: How electrons are almost perfectly spherical
The elementary particles of atoms are almost a perfect sphere, a study has found.Electrons, negatively-charged particles which orbit the nuclei, deviates from absolute roundness by less than less than 0.000000000000000000000000001cm. This means that if it was magnified to the size of the solar system, it would still appear spherical to within the width of a human hair.
Tiny: Electrons, negatively charged particles, circle the nucleus of an atom. Scientists found that they are so round that if it was magnified to the size of the solar system, it would still appear spherical to within the width of a human hairThe Imperial College London study, which is most accurate measurement yet of the shape of the electron, looked at particles inside molecules called ytterbium fluoride. Using a laser, the team made measurements of the motion of these electrons.They looked for any distinctive wobbles which would suggest that the shape of the molecule was distorted as would occur if the electrons were not perfectly round. Conventionally, people think that the electron is round like a little ball, lead author Tony Hudson said.The current best theory to explain the interactions of sub-atomic particles is known as the Standard Model. According to this framework, the electron should be close to perfectly spherical.But the Standard Model is incomplete. It does not explain how gravity works and fails to explain other phenomena observed in the Universe. So physicists have tried to build on this model. One framework to explain physics beyond the Standard Model is known as supersymmetry. However, this theory predicts that the electron has a more distorted shape than that suggested by the Standard Model. According to this idea, the particle could be egg-shaped.Researchers stress that the new observation does not rule out super-symmetry. But it does not support the the! ory, acc ording to Dr Hudson, whose study was published in the journal Nature.
Study: The measurements were made by a team at Imperial College LondonHe hopes to improve the accuracy of his measurements four-fold within five years. By then, he said, his team might be able to make a definitive statement about supersymmetry and some other theories to explain physics beyond the Standard Model.We'd then be in a position to say supersymmetry is right because we have seen a distorted electron or supersymmetry has got to be wrong because we haven't, he told BBC News. Dr Hudson's measurement is twice as precise as the previous efforts to elucidate the shape of the electron. That in itself does not alter scientists' understanding of sub-atomic physics, according to Professor Aaron Leanhardt of Michigan University in the US. But the prospect of improved measurements and the potential to shed light on current theories of particle physics has made the research community sit up and take notice.A factor of two doesn't change the physics community's general opinion of what's going on, he told BBC News.
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