Physics conducted an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider to test whether Einstein's special theory of relativity is always correct. To do this, they studied the behavior of the heaviest elementary particle in the universe, the top quark.
The researchers focused on one of the key tenets of the theory, Lorentz symmetry, which states that the laws of physics remain the same regardless of the orientation and speed of the observer. Some theories have suggested that at ultrahigh energies this symmetry could be broken, potentially revealing new physics.
The experiment was designed to investigate whether the rate of true quark pair formation in the accelerator changes with the time of day. If Lorentz symmetry were broken, the results of the experiments would differ because the orientation of the particles in space-time changes due to the Earth's rotation.
However, the results of the study did not reveal any deviations - the special theory of relativity remained unshakable. This means that, at least for real quarks, it works perfectly.
Still, physicists are planning new experiments with even higher energies and other heavy particles, such as the Higgs boson and the W boson. They hope that further studies may reveal anomalies that will open the way to new physics.
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