Chinese physicist hunts for a ghost particle, undeterred by US-China friction
- Li Liang has worked for nearly a decade on the Muon g-2 experiment involving 200 researchers from seven countries at Fermilab in the US
- Teams in China are working on the blueprint for a muon collider with sites in Guangdong province among candidates to host the potential project
Li Liang is chasing a ghost particle.
For almost a decade, the professor of particle physics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has given up every summer and winter break to join an international search for an unknown particle that will, in the best-case scenario, make Einstein turn in his grave.
As the experiment encountered one technical obstacle after another, political tension between China and the US escalated. The Chinese team had to wait longer than ever to get their visas. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
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But on April 7, after months of delay, the project team published its first milestone findings. Data suggested that, with a 99.7 per cent likelihood, the ghost particle exists.