CERN measurement casts doubt on shocking W boson result

A tantalising discrepancy from the standard model of particle physics hasn’t persisted in new results from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). While the previous result created a frenzy of hypotheses about new particles and adjustments to the standard model that could account for the discrepancy, there is growing evidence that it was not quite correct.

In 2022, researchers analysing archival data from the now-shuttered Tevatron collider in Illinois found that a fundamental particle called the W boson seemed to be …