The proton, along with the neutron and the electron, is among the stable particles that make up ordinary matter in our Universe. Until recently was consideredthat science has formed a stable understanding of the structure of the proton. However, the proton turned out to be not so simple. New experiments showedthat in the characteristics of this elementary particle there is an anomaly inexplicable by science, which casts doubt on the reliability of the foundation of the universe in our understanding.
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The current theory is that the proton is made up of subatomic particles such as quarks and gluons. Due to the strong interaction, a bunch of quarks is such a strong structure that it can only be destroyed with the help of very, very high energies.
Until relatively recently, theory and experiments showed that the curve of the electron-photon action on protons is continuously smooth. As the energy of the beam increases, the proton polarizes (acquires a charge) and, after a certain power, decays into quarks. In a series of experiments at the CEBAF accelerator at the Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory (JLab), it turned out that at a certain stage a spike appears on the graph, as if the proton begins to resist the impact. After a further increase in the proton irradiation power, the graph returns to normal again, and the proton polarization continues to grow. But scientists cannot explain what caused the detected anomaly.
There is a suspicion that the strong interactions in the proton, which are considered to be the carriers of the massless particle gluon, have certain properties that earth science is not yet aware of. The discovery of these properties is extremely important for understanding absolutely all processes occurring in our Universe. Little to know about the properties of the foundation on which our common house is built is at least short-sighted, if not dangerous.
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