Honey, I shrunk the proton

• Autores: Jon Cartwright
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2926, 2013, págs. 30-33
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Until recently, it was unthinkable to question the size of the proton. Its radius is so well known that it appears on lists of nature's fundamental constants, alongside the speed of light and the charge of an electron. So when Randolf Pohl and his colleagues set out to make the most accurate measurement of the proton yet, they expected to just put a few more decimal places on the end of the official value. Instead this group of more than 30 researchers has shaken the world of atomic physics. Their new measurement wasn't just more accurate, it was decidedly lower. The proton had apparently been on a diet. Here, Cartwright reports how the curious goings-on at the heart of the atom may point to a new force of nature.