BBC Focus Magazine

[Shadowwolf]

Recently analyzed data from the BaBar experiment may suggest possible flaws in the Standard Model of particle physics, the reigning description of how the universe works on subatomic scales. The data from BaBar, a high-energy physics experiment based at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, show that a particular type of particle decay called "B to D-star-tau-nu" happens more often than the Standard Model says it should.

In this type of decay, a particle called the B-bar meson decays into a D meson, an antineutrino and a tau lepton. While the level of certainty of the excess (3.4 sigma in statistical language) is not enough to claim a break from the Standard Model, the results are a potential sign of something amiss and are likely to impact existing theories, including those attempting to deduce the properties of Higgs bosons.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120618111823.htm

Most interesting, however, it should be noted that the operative term here is 'hint', not that it is broken, completely wrong, that a radically / any different new model is required or that everything predicated on the Standard Model can now be celebratory and summarily dismissed in anticipation of its imminent demise.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Oh! And I was all set to hang out the bunting.