The peculiar wobble of a subatomic particle called a muon in a U.S. laboratory experiment is making scientists increasingly suspect they are missing something in their understanding of physics - perhaps some unknown particle or force.
Researchers on Thursday announced new findings about the muon (pronounced MEW-on), a magnetic and negatively charged particle similar to its cousin the electron but 200 times more massive, in their experiment at the U.S. Energy Department's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.
The experiment studied the wobble of muons as they travelled through a magnetic field. The muon, like the electron, has a tiny internal magnet that causes it to wobble - or, technically speaking, "precess" - like the axis of a spinning top while in a magnetic field.
