,THE ZEPTOVERSE IS THE NAME PHYSICISTS HAVE BEGUN USING FOR THE SMALLEST SLICE OF NATURE EVER REACHED BY AN EXPERIMENT A REALM NEAR THE ZEPTOMETRE1 #AJ_< METRES1 ABOUT A HUNDRED BILLION TIMES SMALLER THAN AN ATOM4 ,ON #C ,NOVEMBER #BJBF1 A ,CAMBRIDGE-LED TEAM WORKING ON THE ,L,H,CB EXPERIMENT AT ,,CERN ANNOUNCED THEY HAD CAUGHT THE FIRST BELIEVABLE SIGNAL FROM THAT DEPTH3 A BEAUTY PARTICLE DECAYING1 AGAINST ODDS OF ROUGHLY ONE IN TEN BILLION1 INTO TWO MUONS4 ,AFTER A SEARCH LASTING MORE THAN FOUR DECADES1 HUMANITY HAD KNOCKED LITERALLY ON THE DOOR OF THE SMALLEST PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE4 ,THE HEADLINE SOUNDS LIKE SCIENCE FICTION1 AND THE NAME DOES TOO BUT WHAT MAKES THE ZEPTOVERSE GENUINELY STRANGE IS WHAT LIVES THERE1 AND WHAT IT ALREADY DID TO YOU4 ,THE PARTICLES THAT MAY LURK AT THESE SCALES ARE THE LEADING SUSPECTS FOR DARK MATTER AND FOR THE REASON MATTER EXISTS AT ALL4 ,AND THE DEEPEST FACT IN COSMOLOGY IS THAT THE LARGEST STRUCTURES IN THE UNIVERSE EVERY GALAXY1 EVERY CLUSTER1 EVERY PLANET WERE SEEDED BY QUANTUM FLUCTUATIONS FAR SMALLER THAN THE ZEPTOVERSE1 INFLATED INTO PERMANENCE IN THE FIRST INSTANT AFTER THE ,BIG ,BANG4 ,THE SMALLEST SIGNALS IN THE WORLD ARE NOT A FOOTNOTE TO THE COSMOS4 ,IN A PRECISE PHYSICAL SENSE1 THEY ARE THE COSMOS1 CAUGHT EARLY4 ,WHAT JUST HAPPENED AT ,,CERN ,THE ANNOUNCEMENT1 MADE AT A SEMINAR AT ,,CERN ON #C ,NOVEMBER #BJBF1 CONCERNS A PARTICLE CALLED THE ,BP MESON A BOUND PAIR OF A BEAUTY QUARK AND A DOWN ANTIQUARK4 ,BEAUTY PARTICLES ARE PRODUCED COPIOUSLY WHEN THE ,,LHC SMASHES PROTONS TOGETHER1 BUT A ,BP LIVES FOR ONLY ABOUT A TRILLIONTH AND A HALF OF A SECOND BEFORE IT DISINTEGRATES4 ,ALMOST ALWAYS IT FALLS APART INTO ORDINARY DEBRIS4 ,BUT ONCE IN ROUGHLY TEN BILLION DECAYS1 THE BEAUTY QUARK AND THE ANTIQUARK ANNIHILATE EACH OTHER COMPLETELY1 AND THE WHOLE PARTICLE VANISHES INTO A PAIR OF MUONS HEAVIER COUSINS OF THE ELECTRON WRITTEN ,BP ;Z_<4 ,THAT VANISHING ACT IS SO IMPROBABLE THAT IT TOOK FORTY-TWO YEARS TO SEE4 ,THE HUNT BEGAN IN #AIHD AT ,CORNELL'S ,,CLEO EXPERIMENT AND HAS RUN THROUGH EVERY COLLIDER GENERATION SINCE4 ,IN #BJAE A JOINT ANALYSIS BY ,L,H,CB AND THE ,,CMS EXPERIMENT CLAIMED FIRST EVIDENCE FOR THE DECAY1 BUT FOLLOW-UP DATA THROUGH #BJAH FAILED TO CONFIRM IT THE APPARENT SIGNAL FADED BACK INTO NOISE4 ,THE DIFFERENCE THIS TIME IS THE REBUILT DETECTOR3 ,L,H,CB'S ,UPGRADE ,I1 COMPLETED IN THE EARLY #BJBJ;S1 LETS IT RECORD COLLISIONS FIVE TIMES FASTER THAN BEFORE MORE THAN A HUNDRED MILLION PROTON COLLISIONS A SECOND1 A FIREHOSE OF ABOUT FOUR TERABYTES OF DATA PER SECOND WHILE MACHINE-LEARNING CLASSIFIERS STRIP AWAY THE VAST BACKGROUND OF LOOK-ALIKE EVENTS4 ,COMBINING THE NEW #BJBD#BJBE DATA WITH EVERYTHING RECORDED IN #BJAA#BJAH1 THE COLLABORATION REPORTS EVIDENCE AT #C4B SIGMA ABOUT A ONE-IN-#A1EJJ CHANCE OF BEING A STATISTICAL FLUKE4 ,TWO HONEST CAVEATS BELONG IN THE LEAD1 AND THIS ARTICLE WILL KEEP FLAGGING THEM3 PARTICLE PHYSICS RESERVES THE WORD 8DISCOVERY0 FOR #E SIGMA A ONE-IN-#C4E-MILLION CHANCE OF A FLUKE SO THIS IS FORMALLY EVIDENCE1 NOT DISCOVERY1 AND IT HAS NOT YET BEEN PEER-REVIEWED4 ,AND THE MEASURED RATE IS CONSISTENT WITH THE ,STANDARD ,MODEL'S OWN PREDICTION4 ,THAT SOUNDS ANTICLIMACTIC1 BUT IT IS THE INTERESTING PART EXPLAINED BELOW4 ,HOW SMALL IS THE ZEPTOVERSE1 EXACTLY8 ,THE PREFIX ZEPTO- MEANS A FACTOR OF #AJ_< A ONE FOLLOWED BY TWENTY-ONE ZEROS1 A SEXTILLIONTH IN SCIENTIFIC NOTATION4 ,THE ZEPTOVERSE IS THE WORLD OF THINGS THAT HAPPEN AT DISTANCES APPROACHING A ZEPTOMETRE4 ,TO FEEL WHERE THAT SITS ON THE LADDER OF SCALES3 HUMAN HAIR @9 #AJ_<;T ;M WHAT YOU CAN SEE UNAIDED ATOM @9 #AJ_<;P ;M #AJJ1JJJ SMALLER THAN A HAIR ATOMIC NUCLEUS @9 #AJ_<;T ;M #AJ1JJJ SMALLER THAN AN ATOM PROTON @9 #H#AJ_<;V ;M THE NUCLEUS OF HYDROGEN ,,LHC QUARK PROBES @9 #AJ_<;Y ;M NO QUARK SUBSTRUCTURE SEEN YET ,,THE ,,ZEPTOVERSE ZEPTOMETRE @9 #AJ_< ;M RARE-DECAY PHYSICS FRONTIER @&AND FAR BELOW@& ,PLANCK LENGTH @9 #AJ_<;U ;M WHERE SPACE ITSELF MAY STOP BEING SPACE ,CHRIS ,PARKES1 A ,UNIVERSITY OF ,MANCHESTER PHYSICIST ON THE PROJECT1 PUT IT AS WELL AS ANYONE3 AS A PERSON IS TO AN ATOM1 AN ATOM IS TO THE ZEPTOVERSE4 ,NOBODY SMASHES THEIR WAY DOWN TO A ZEPTOMETRE DIRECTLY NO MICROSCOPE RESOLVES IT4 ,THE TRICK IS SUBTLER4 ,QUANTUM MECHANICS SAYS EVERY DECAY CAN PROCEED THROUGH VIRTUAL PARTICLES GHOSTLY INTERMEDIARIES THAT FLICKER IN AND OUT OF EXISTENCE FOR THE DURATION OF THE REACTION4 ,THE MORE MASSIVE A VIRTUAL PARTICLE1 THE MORE FLEETING AND SHORT-RANGED ITS INFLUENCE4 ,A DECAY THAT HAPPENS ONLY ONCE IN TEN BILLION TRIES IS EXQUISITELY SENSITIVE TO THOSE GHOSTS3 ANY UNKNOWN PARTICLE HEAVY ENOUGH TO LIVE ONLY AT ZEPTOMETRE SCALES CAN STILL TILT THE ODDS OF THE DECAY1 AND ,L,H,CB WOULD SEE THE TILT AS A DEVIATION FROM THE PREDICTED RATE4 ,THE RARE DECAY IS A MAGNIFYING GLASS FOR THE SMALLEST WORLD AND THAT IS THE ENTIRE STRATEGY OF THE ZEPTOVERSE PROGRAM4 ..> ,THE SMALLEST SIGNALS EVER CAUGHT ,THE ZEPTOVERSE RESULT IS THE NEWEST ENTRY IN A REMARKABLE FAMILY OF MEASUREMENTS SIGNALS SO FAINT THEY ONCE SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE TO REGISTER AT ALL4 ,THE ZEPTOVERSE NOW HOLDS THE DISTANCE RECORD1 BUT THE CLUB IT JOINED IS WORTH TOURING1 BECAUSE EVERY MEMBER REDEFINED WHAT 8UNDETECTABLE0 MEANS4 ,THE WHISPER THAT BENT SPACETIME4 ,IN ,SEPTEMBER #BJAE1 THE TWO ,,LIGO DETECTORS CAUGHT A PASSING GRAVITATIONAL WAVE FROM THE MERGER OF TWO BLACK HOLES MORE THAN A BILLION LIGHT-YEARS AWAY4 ,THE WAVE STRETCHED AND SQUEEZED EACH #D-KILOMETRE ARM BY ABOUT #AJ_<;X METRES ROUGHLY A THOUSANDTH OF THE WIDTH OF A PROTON4 ,IT REMAINS THE SMALLEST DISPLACEMENT EVER MEASURED3 THE SIGNAL REGISTERED AS A FRACTIONAL STRAIN OF ABOUT #AJ_< COINCIDENTALLY1 A ZEPTOSCOPIC NUMBER4 ,THE CHIRP BELOW IS THE REAL THING3 THE ACTUAL MOMENT TWO BLACK HOLES1 COLLIDING AT HALF THE SPEED OF LIGHT1 BRIEFLY OUTSHONE EVERY STAR IN THE OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE IN GRAVITATIONAL POWER AND WERE HEARD AS A RISING BLIP LASTING A FIFTH OF A SECOND4 ..> ..> ,THE SHORTEST TIME EVER MEASURED4 ,IN #BJBJ1 PHYSICISTS IN ,FRANKFURT TIMED HOW LONG A PHOTON TAKES TO CROSS A HYDROGEN MOLECULE #BDG ZEPTOSECONDS1 OR #BDG #AJ_< SECONDS4 ,THAT IS THE SHORTEST TIME INTERVAL EVER RECORDED4 ,TO GIVE IT SCALE3 LIGHT CROSSES A ZEPTOMETRE IN ABOUT THREE THOUSANDTHS OF A ZEPTOSECOND4 ,THE ZEPTOVERSE'S UNITS WERE ALREADY IN THE RECORD BOOK BEFORE THE REALM HAD A NAME4 ,TWENTY-FOUR PARTICLES THAT REWROTE ASTRONOMY4 ,ON #BC ,FEBRUARY #AIHG1 THREE UNDERGROUND DETECTORS ,KAMIOKANDE-,,II IN ,JAPAN1 ,,IMB IN ,OHIO1 AND THE ,BAKSAN OBSERVATORY CAUGHT BETWEEN THEM ROUGHLY TWO DOZEN NEUTRINOS OVER ABOUT THIRTEEN SECONDS4 ,THEY HAD TRAVELED #AFH1JJJ YEARS TO GET HERE1 RELEASED IN THE FIRST INSTANTS OF THE SUPERNOVA ,,SN #AIHG;,A1 AND THEY ARRIVED HOURS BEFORE THE EXPLOSION'S LIGHT NEUTRINOS BURST OUT OF THE COLLAPSING CORE IMMEDIATELY1 WHILE THE SHOCK WAVE STILL HAD TO FIGHT ITS WAY THROUGH THE DYING STAR4 ,TWO DOZEN PARTICLES1 FROM ONE EXPLOSION1 AND THEY CONFIRMED THE CORE-COLLAPSE MECHANISM AND LAUNCHED NEUTRINO ASTRONOMY4 ,THE DETECTIONS EARNED A SHARE OF THE #BJJB ,NOBEL ,PRIZE4 ..> ,THE GHOST WEIGHING ALMOST NOTHING4 ,THE ,,KATRIN EXPERIMENT IN ,GERMANY SPENT YEARS WEIGHING THE NEUTRINO BY WATCHING THE FAINTEST TAIL OF TRITIUM BETA DECAY AND CONCLUDED THE PARTICLE WEIGHS LESS THAN AN ELECTRONVOLT3 AT LEAST TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES LIGHTER THAN THE ELECTRON1 THE NEXT-LIGHTEST KNOWN PARTICLE WITH MASS4 ,THE SIGNAL ,,KATRIN HUNTS IS A DEFICIT OF A FEW ELECTRONS AT THE EXTREME ENDPOINT OF A SPECTRUM A MEASUREMENT OF THE NEAR-NOTHING THAT TURNED OUT TO MATTER ENORMOUSLY1 AS THE NEXT SECTION SHOWS4 ,EACH OF THESE MEASUREMENTS WAS1 IN ITS ERA1 DISMISSED AS IMPOSSIBLE SPACETIME RIPPLES TOO SMALL1 TIMES TOO SHORT1 NEUTRINOS TOO GHOSTLY4 ,THE LESSON THE ZEPTOVERSE INHERITS IS THAT 8BELOW DETECTION0 IS A TEMPORARY ADDRESS4 ,WHY THE SMALLEST PLACE IS THE BEST PLACE TO LOOK FOR NEW PHYSICS ,THE ,STANDARD ,MODEL OF PARTICLE PHYSICS IS ARGUABLY THE MOST SUCCESSFUL THEORY EVER BUILT AND IT IS KNOWN TO BE INCOMPLETE4 ,IT CANNOT EXPLAIN WHY THERE IS MORE MATTER THAN ANTIMATTER "1 IT CONTAINS NO PARTICLE THAT COULD BE DARK MATTER1 AND IT SAYS NOTHING ABOUT GRAVITY4 ,THE MISSING PIECES MUST EXIST SOMEWHERE1 AND A CENTURY OF EXPERIENCE SAYS NEW PHYSICS SHOWS UP FIRST WHERE THE OLD PHYSICS IS WEAKEST OR QUIETEST4 ,RARE DECAYS ARE THE QUIETEST PROCESSES IN THE SUBATOMIC WORLD1 WHICH IS WHY ,BP ;Z_< IS A 8GOLDEN CHANNEL40 ,IN THE ,STANDARD ,MODEL1 THE DECAY CAN ONLY HAPPEN THROUGH A CLUMSY CHAIN OF QUANTUM LOOPS WHICH IS WHY IT IS ONE-IN-TEN-BILLION RARE4 ,BUT THAT CLUMSINESS IS A FEATURE3 IF ANY UNDISCOVERED PARTICLE EXISTS THAT CAN JOIN THE LOOP A HEAVIER COUSIN OF THE ,HIGGS1 A DARK-MATTER PORTAL PARTICLE1 ANYTHING WITH A FOOTHOLD AT ZEPTOMETRE SCALES IT WOULD OPEN A SIDE ROAD FOR THE DECAY AND SHIFT THE RATE4 ,BECAUSE THE ,STANDARD ,MODEL RATE IS SO TINY AND SO PRECISELY PREDICTED1 EVEN A SMALL NEW CONTRIBUTION STANDS OUT LIKE A COUGH IN A SILENT ROOM4 ,THIS IS ALSO WHY THE ,NOVEMBER RESULT BEING CONSISTENT WITH THE ,STANDARD ,MODEL IS NOT A LETDOWN4 ,EVERY MEASUREMENT OF THE ZEPTOVERSE IS A FENCE LINE3 WHATEVER UNDISCOVERED PARTICLES LIVE THERE NOW HAVE A TIGHTER CAGE4 ,AND THERE IS PRECEDENT FOR THE FENCE TURNING INTO A DOOR THE WHOLE IDEA WORKED ONCE BEFORE1 WHEN THEORISTS USED RARE KAON DECAYS IN EXACTLY THIS WAY TO INFER THE CHARM QUARK BEFORE IT WAS DISCOVERED IN #AIGD4 ,HOW THE SMALLEST SIGNALS BUILT THE GALAXIES ,HERE IS THE PART THAT MAKES THE ZEPTOVERSE MORE THAN A PARTICLE-PHYSICS STORY1 AND IT IS NOT SPECULATION IT IS THE STANDARD ACCOUNT OF HOW THE UNIVERSE GOT ITS STRUCTURE4 ,QUANTUM MECHANICS GUARANTEES THAT EMPTY SPACE IS NEVER TRULY STILL3 FIELDS FLUCTUATE1 UNAVOIDABLY1 AT EVERY SCALE4 ,IN THE FIRST SLIVER OF A SECOND AFTER THE ,BIG ,BANG1 THE THEORY OF COSMIC INFLATION HOLDS THAT THE UNIVERSE UNDERWENT A RUNAWAY EXPONENTIAL EXPANSION AND THOSE MICROSCOPIC VACUUM FLUCTUATIONS1 EACH FAR SMALLER THAN ANYTHING THE ZEPTOVERSE WILL EVER RESOLVE1 WERE STRETCHED TO ASTRONOMICAL SIZE AND FROZEN IN AS SLIGHT DIFFERENCES IN DENSITY4 ,THOSE IMPRINTED DIFFERENCES ARE EXACTLY WHAT WE SEE #CHJ1JJJ YEARS LATER AS THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND TEMPERATURE RIPPLES PATCHES ONE PART IN A HUNDRED THOUSAND WARMER OR COOLER AND THEY ARE EXACTLY WHAT GRAVITY THEN SPENT #AC4H BILLION YEARS AMPLIFYING INTO STRUCTURE4 ,THE OVERDENSE SPECKS BECAME THE SEEDS THAT PULLED IN GAS1 IGNITED THE FIRST STARS1 AND ASSEMBLED THE GALAXIES4 ..> ,READ THAT AGAIN1 BECAUSE IT IS ONE OF THE STRANGEST ESTABLISHED FACTS IN SCIENCE3 EVERY GALAXY IS A QUANTUM FLUCTUATION THAT GOT BIG4 ,THE ,MILKY ,WAY1 ,ANDROMEDA1 THE HUNDRED BILLION GALAXIES BEYOND ALL OF THEM1 AND EVERY STAR AND PLANET INSIDE THEM1 ARE FOSSILIZED NOISE FROM THE SMALLEST CONCEIVABLE SIGNALS1 WRITTEN INTO SPACETIME BEFORE THERE WAS ANYTHING TO WRITE WITH4 ,WHEN ASTRONOMERS MAP THE COSMIC WEB1 THEY ARE READING A FOSSIL RECORD OF QUANTUM EVENTS4 ,THE SMALLEST SIGNALS IN THE WORLD DID NOT MERELY INFLUENCE THE GALAXIES UNDER INFLATION1 THEY BECAME THEM4 ,NOR ARE THE SMALLEST PLAYERS DONE SCULPTING THE LARGEST STRUCTURES4 ,NEUTRINOS THE GHOST PARTICLES OF THE ,,SN #AIHG;,A STORY STREAM THROUGH THE EARLY UNIVERSE SO FREELY THAT THEY SMOOTH OUT STRUCTURE ON SMALL SCALES3 HOW MUCH GALAXY-CLUSTERING GETS SUPPRESSED DEPENDS DIRECTLY ON HOW MUCH NEUTRINOS WEIGH4 ,THAT NEARLY-ZERO MASS ,,KATRIN IS CHASING TURNS OUT TO BE A DIAL ON THE SHAPE OF THE LARGEST THING HUMANS CAN OBSERVE4 ,THE SMALLEST SIGNAL SETS THE PATTERN OF THE LARGEST MAP4 ,WHAT ZEPTO-SCALE PHYSICS SAYS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF PLANETS AND GALAXIES ,THE ARTICLE'S CLICKBAIT PROMISE THE FATE OF FUTURE PLANETS AND GALAXIES HAS AN HONEST ANSWER1 AND IT LIVES AT THE SMALLEST SCALES4 ,THREE MECHANISMS1 IN INCREASING ORDER OF SPECULATION1 CONNECT ZEPTOSCOPIC PHYSICS TO THE DEEP FUTURE3 ,WHY THERE ARE PLANETS AT ALL4 ,THE UNIVERSE CONTAINS MATTER PLANETS1 STARS1 US BECAUSE AT SOME EARLY INSTANT SOME PROCESS TIPPED THE MATTERANTIMATTER BALANCE BY ABOUT ONE PART IN A BILLION4 ,PHYSICS HAS PROVEN MECHANISMS THAT CAN DO SUCH TIPPING "<,SAKHAROV'S CONDITIONS ARE TEXTBOOK">1 BUT THE ,STANDARD ,MODEL'S BUILT-IN IMBALANCE IS FAR TOO WEAK4 ,WHATEVER DID THE JOB MUST BE A RARE1 SUBTLE1 SYMMETRY-VIOLATING PROCESS PRECISELY THE CATEGORY OF PHENOMENON THE ZEPTOVERSE PROGRAM HUNTS4 ,WHEN ,L,H,CB WATCHES BEAUTY PARTICLES DECAY ONE-IN-TEN-BILLION TIMES1 IT IS INTERROGATING THE CLASS OF PHYSICS THAT EXPLAINS WHY THERE IS A SKY4 ,HOW THE MAP ENDS4 ,TWO MEASURED QUANTITIES OF SMALL-SCALE PHYSICS ALREADY SHAPE THE END STATE OF THE COSMOS4 ,DARK ENERGY THE PRESSURE ACCELERATING THE EXPANSION ENSURES THAT GALAXIES BEYOND THE ,LOCAL ,GROUP WILL KEEP RECEDING FASTER UNTIL THEY SLIP PERMANENTLY BEYOND THE REACHABLE HORIZON2 ASTRONOMERS HAVE COMPUTED THAT FAR-FUTURE OBSERVERS IN OUR MERGED GALAXY WOULD SEE AN ESSENTIALLY EMPTY SKY1 UNABLE EVEN IN PRINCIPLE TO MEASURE THE EXPANSION WE CAN SEE TODAY4 ,AND PROTONS3 MANY EXTENSIONS OF THE ,STANDARD ,MODEL PREDICT THE PROTON IS NOT ETERNAL EXPERIMENTS HAVE RULED ITS LIFETIME ABOVE @9#AJ;T YEARS FOR THE FAVORED DECAY MODES1 WHICH SOUNDS PERMANENT UNTIL YOU REALIZE THE QUESTION IS DECIDED AT SCALES OF #AJ_< METRES AND BELOW4 ,IF PROTONS DECAY1 EVERY ATOM IN EVERY FUTURE PLANET AND GALAXY IS PERISHABLE ON COSMOLOGICAL TIMESCALES4 ,IF THEY DON'T1 MATTER IS EFFECTIVELY IMMORTAL4 ,ZEPTO-SCALE PHYSICS IS THE ARBITER4 ,THE GROUND BENEATH EVERYTHING LABELED SPECULATION4 ,PRECISION MEASUREMENT OF THE ,HIGGS BOSON AND TOP QUARK MASSES PUTS THE ELECTROWEAK VACUUM NEAR THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN STABLE AND METASTABLE3 THERE IS A REAL " POSSIBILITY THAT THE VACUUM THAT PERMITS ATOMS IS NOT THE LOWEST-ENERGY STATE1 AND COULD SOMEDAY TUNNEL TO A DEEPER ONE1 REWRITING CHEMISTRY ACROSS A LIGHT-SPEED-EXPANDING BUBBLE4 ,THE COMPUTED LIFETIME IS COMFORTABLY LONGER THAN THE AGE OF THE UNIVERSE1 AND THIS IS THE MOST SPECULATIVE ITEM ON THIS LIST BUT IT ILLUSTRATES THE DEEPEST VERSION OF THE THESIS3 THE ULTIMATE FATE OF ALL THE GALAXIES MAY BE WRITTEN IN THE ,HIGGS SECTOR1 AT DISTANCES NO TELESCOPE WILL EVER RESOLVE4 ,THE INSTRUMENTS THAT GO DEEPER NEXT ,THE ZEPTOVERSE WAS OPENED BY STATISTICS AND CLEVERNESS1 AND IT WILL BE MAPPED THE SAME WAY4 ,THE ,HIGH-,LUMINOSITY ,,LHC1 DUE AROUND THE END OF THIS DECADE1 WILL MULTIPLY ,L,H,CB'S DATASET SEVERAL-FOLD ENOUGH TO PUSH A #C4B-SIGMA HINT PAST THE #E-SIGMA DISCOVERY LINE IF THE SIGNAL IS REAL1 AND TO SHARPEN THE RATE UNTIL ANY DEVIATION FROM THE ,STANDARD ,MODEL SHOWS ITS TEETH4 ,HYPER-,KAMIOKANDE "<,JAPAN1 BEGINNING THIS DECADE"> TAKES THE NEUTRINO-SIGNAL BATON FROM ,SUPER-;,K1 INCLUDING A FAR DEEPER SEARCH FOR PROTON DECAY THE EXPIRY-DATE EXPERIMENT FOR MATTER ITSELF4 ,,LISA1 THE SPACE-BASED GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE ARRAY PLANNED FOR THE #BJCJ;S1 EXTENDS ,,LIGO'S ZEPTO-STRAIN TECHNIQUE TO THE LOW-FREQUENCY RUMBLE OF SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES4 ,AND ,,CMB-,S#D WILL READ THE FOSSIL-FLUCTUATION RECORD THE SMALLEST SIGNALS THAT BECAME THE LARGEST STRUCTURES AT NEW PRECISION4 ,A NECESSARY WORD OF CAUTION ,EVERYTHING ABOVE THE 8CAVEATS0 LINE IS WHERE ENCYCLOPEDIAS EARN THEIR KEEP4 ,THE ,BP ;Z_< RESULT IS EVIDENCE AT #C4B SIGMA1 ANNOUNCED AT A SEMINAR1 NOT YET THROUGH PEER REVIEW THE #BJAE VERSION OF THIS CLAIM FADED ON LATER DATA1 AND THIS ONE COULD TOO1 THOUGH THE ENLARGED DATASET AND UPGRADED DETECTOR MAKE THAT LESS LIKELY4 ,THE WORD 8ZEPTOVERSE0 ITSELF IS WEEKS OLD A PHYSICISTS' NICKNAME FOR A FRONTIER1 NOT AN ESTABLISHED SCIENTIFIC TERM2 IT MAY STICK OR EVAPORATE4 ,AND THE MEASURED DECAY RATE SO FAR AGREES WITH THE ,STANDARD ,MODEL MEANING NO NEW PARTICLES HAVE BEEN CAUGHT YET1 ONLY A NEW DEPTH PLUMBED4 ,THAT IS STILL A GENUINELY HISTORIC MEASUREMENT4 ,THE HONEST VERSION OF THE STORY NEEDS NO INFLATION WHICH IS FORTUNATE1 BECAUSE INFLATION IS THE PART THE UNIVERSE ALREADY HANDLED4 ,SEE ALSO "9 HISTORY OF PHYSICS "9 HISTORY OF SCIENCE "9 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION "9 ,BRAILLE ANOTHER REALM WHERE THE SMALLEST SIGNALS CARRY THE MOST INFORMATION ,REFERENCES - ,,CERN 8,L,H,CB FINDS EVIDENCE OF ONE-IN-TEN-BILLION PARTICLE DECAY0 "<#C ,NOVEMBER #BJBF"> - ,UNIVERSITY OF ,CAMBRIDGE 8,PHYSICISTS KNOCK AT THE DOOR OF THE ZEPTOVERSE0 "<#C ,NOVEMBER #BJBF"> - ,,BBC ,NEWS 8,THE ZEPTOVERSE3 WHAT IS IT AND HOW WILL IT TRANSFORM PHYSICS80 "<,PALLAB ,GHOSH1 ,NOV #BJBF"> - ,NEW ,SCIENTIST 8,PHYSICISTS GET FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE ZEPTOVERSE FROM ,,LHC EXPERIMENT0 "<,NOV #BJBF"> - ,,INFN ,FRASCATI 8,L,H,CB IDENTIFIES A DECAY THAT OCCURS ONCE IN TEN BILLION0 "<,NOV #BJBF"> - ,ABBOTT ET AL4 "<,,LIGO_/,VIRGO"> 8,OBSERVATION OF ,GRAVITATIONAL ,WAVES FROM A ,BINARY ,BLACK ,HOLE ,MERGER10 ,PHYS4 ,REV4 ,LETT4 #AAF1 #JFAAJB "<#BJAF"> - ,GRUNDMANN ET AL4 8,ZEPTOSECOND BIRTH TIME DELAY IN MOLECULAR PHOTOIONIZATION10 ,SCIENCE "<#BJBJ"> - ,HIRATA ET AL4 ,KAMIOKANDE-,,II DETECTION OF ,,SN #AIHG;,A NEUTRINOS1 ,PHYS4 ,REV4 ,LETT4 "<#AIHG"> - ,,KATRIN COLLABORATION NEUTRINO-MASS BOUND1 ,NATURE ,PHYSICS "<#BJBB"> AND UPDATES - ,PERLMUTTER1 ,RIESS1 ,SCHMIDT DISCOVERY OF ACCELERATING EXPANSION1 ,NOBEL ,PRIZE #BJAA - ,SAKHAROV 8,VIOLATION OF ,,CP INVARIANCE4440 "<#AIFG">1 BARYOGENESIS CONDITIONS - ,SUPER-,KAMIOKANDE COLLABORATION PROTON-DECAY LIFETIME LIMITS