https://theconversation.com/evidence-of-brand-new-physics-at-cern-why-were-cautiously-optimistic-about-our-new-findings-157464
In: Physics
The simplest answer I can come up with is that at the subatomic particle level (as in the things that make up protons, neutrons, and electrons) our “standard model” doesn’t fit perfectly. These subatomic particles only sometimes act like we expect them to. So making accurate predictions has been difficult. Though the more we observe these particles with experiments like what’s happening at Cern, the more we understand.
One famous example is known as quantum entanglement. Certain subatomic particles have a “spin” to them. Sometimes those subatomic particles are considered “entangled” with another. Where if we change the “spin” of one, the other will react instantaneously. This happens regardless of distance. If we separated the entangled pair on two different sides of our galaxy, they would each change at the exact same moment. This defies the standard model’s understanding of the speed of light where no information can travel faster than light through a vacuum. If it did it would take as long as it would for a photon to travel from one particle to the other to change spin.
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