Five-particle structure challenges string theory

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string theory predicts

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Can one vanishing particle shatter string theory — and explain dark matter?

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Researchers from Penn and Arizona State University pinpoint a lone five -particle package (a 5 -plet) that could upend string theory by detecting it at the Large Hadron Collider.

If that particle appears, the entire string-theory edifice would be in "in enormous trouble" Researchers instead asked if there's a simple scenario that string theory just can't accommodate a particle.

The 5 -plet is an expanded version of the doublet, "packing five related particles together" The particle family is called a Majorana fermion, meaning it acts as its own antiparticle.

The neutral member could explain dark matter, the mysterious mass shaping up most of our universe's matter.

The LHC's ATLAS collider has already ruled out any such particle.

"We're stress-testing it, applying more pressure to see if it holds up," Heckman says.

"If string theory survives, fantastic," he says. "If it snaps, we'll learn something profound about nature" The work received support from the Department of Energy , U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation .

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