The #stories a #muon could tell

Issued by Symmetry

The discovery of the muon originally confounded physicists. Today international experiments are using the previously perplexing particle to gain a new understanding of our world.

At the beginning of the 20th century, physicists were aware of a pervasive shower of particles that seemed to rain down from space. By filling glass chambers with highly condensed vapor, they could indirectly see tracks left by these highly energetic particles now known as cosmic rays. In doing so, they quickly discovered the subatomic world was more complex than initially suspected. 

The first new matter particle they discovered was the muon. It was a lot like an electron, just more massive. At first, no one knew what to make of it. 

Some thought it might be a particle theorized to hold protons and neutrons together in an atom. But a pair of Italians conducting experiments in Rome during World War II proved otherwise. 

https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/the-stories-a-muon-could-tell