Scientists detect signals at the smallest scale ever explored

Scientists have picked up signals from the smallest scale of nature ever explored – 100 billion times smaller than an atom.

A world so small that some physicists have nicknamed it the zeptoverse.

The research, led by scientists based in Cambridge, was obtained from an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

This vast machine at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (Cern) on the Swiss-French border smashes atoms together to break them apart and discover what is inside them.

The result is important because it could help researchers develop a new, more complete theory of how the Universe works.

Dark matter makes up a large part of our cosmos, and yet researchers have struggled to detect it.

Scientists know it is there because its gravitational force influences normal matter, but in all other respects it has remained completely invisible.

So in this experiment, particles were smashed together at high energy and scientists studied the material that was thrown out - the shrapnel of collisions.

One of these is a sub-atomic particle - smaller than an atom - called a beauty quark.

The particle is unstable and exists for just one and a half trillionths of a second before breaking down into other forms - decaying.

Despite its short lifetime, researchers managed to detect it interacting with other tiny particles at a scale of a billion-trillionth of a metre.

Some theories suggest that at these scales particles are more sensitive to dark matter and it could influence how the quarks interact and break down. So, detecting activity in this tiny world could help scientists detect dark matter.

"We're knocking on the door of this zeptoverse," Dr Harry Cliff, of Cambridge University who led the analysis of the data, told BBC News.

He said this sub-atomic dance provided researchers with a ringside seat to the behaviour of possible new particles.

"And what we want to do now is go in and explore and find what new particles are waiting there. And to do that, what we need is more data," Cliff added.

The 28 countries involved in the project have agreed a £150m upgrade to this detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHCb), which would increase the frequency of these decays tenfold.

"With that we can probe inside the zeptoverse and see what's waiting," Cliff said.

But last year the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) agency, the government body in charge of research funding, announced that it was withdrawing its share of the money for the planned upgrade.

It later announced cuts to several other particle physics and astronomy projects this Summer, including Jodrell Bank's iconic Lovell telescope.

Although this research was led by scientists based in Cambridge, because of the cuts, Prof Tim Gershon, who leads the LHCb international collaboration, told BBC News that the UK's full involvement in the research would be in doubt.

"The UK is at risk of not being involved and making really major discoveries," he told BBC News.

"But I think the biggest long-term impact comes from the fact that the UK won't get the benefits from training young people who really are our greatest product."

Among those early-career researchers is Dr Mary Richardson-Slipper, who is part of the team that made the zeptoverse discovery. She is reconsidering her future in light of the physics cuts.

"I love being here in the UK, but I am looking at jobs abroad because that seems to be where there are more opportunities at the moment," said Richardson-Slipper.

She added that "lots" of her fellow researchers working in fundamental physics had already moved.

The cuts are being made despite an overall record increase in the science budget.

• UK research hit by cuts despite record science funding

Prof Brian Cox, TV presenter and particle researcher at the University of Manchester, who is not part of the research team, described the result as "important".

But he condemned the recent decision to cut UK funding for the Cern project.

"It would be extraordinary to walk away from UK scientific leadership at this moment, damaging the future research programme and seriously damaging our hard-won international reputation," Cox said.

The UKRI told BBC News that it remained a fully engaged member of Cern as its second largest funder at around £175m per year.

A UKRI spokesperson said: "We sought independent advice and have taken forward an exciting portfolio of new infrastructure investments, which include projects in clean energy, medical imaging and cultural heritage.

"However, as usual, there were more exciting applications for funding than we were able to support."