Physicists Solve a Big Quantum Mystery. Now, Old Results Don’t Add Up.

For a quarter century, physicists have been puzzled by a mismatch between theory and experiment when it comes to muons—tiny fundamental particles—placed in magnetic fields. The gap hinted at the existence of previously unknown particles lurking in nature. But in twenty twenty-one, that discrepancy evaporated, Quanta Magazine reports. Now that physicists have resolved the mystery, they're facing an unexpected consequence: decades of old experimental data that was interpreted one way must now be understood differently.

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