英国领衔的一个物理学家团队发现了一种极其罕见的粒子衰变证据，这可能为在极微小尺度上尚未发现的物理学提供线索，剑桥大学周二宣布。
A UK-led team of physicists has found evidence of an extremely rare particle decay that could offer clues to undiscovered physics at extraordinarily small scales, the University of Cambridge announced Tuesday.
研究人员利用位于日内瓦附近欧洲核子研究中心（CERN）升级后的大型强子对撞机美夸克实验（LHCb），探测到了一种含有美夸克的美粒子衰变成两个称为μ子的粒子的迹象。
Researchers using the upgraded Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment at CERN near Geneva detected signs of a beauty particle, which contains a beauty quark, decaying into two particles called muons.
经过四十多年的搜寻，这一结果标志着单一实验首次产生了这种罕见衰变的证据。欧洲核子研究中心表示，如果得到确认，这将是有史以来观测到的最罕见粒子衰变。美夸克是构成普通原子物质的上夸克和下夸克的“异域对应物”。
After more than four decades of searching, the result marks the first time a single experiment has produced evidence of the rare decay. If confirmed, it would be the rarest particle decay ever observed, CERN said. Beauty quarks are exotic counterparts of the up and down quarks that make up ordinary atomic matter.
含有美夸克的粒子通常存在约1.5万亿分之一秒就会衰变，这使科学家能够研究发生在极微小距离尺度上的物理过程。
Particles containing beauty quarks typically exist for about 1.5 trillionths of a second before decaying, allowing scientists to study physical processes occurring at extremely small distance scales.
研究人员确定的这种衰变被称为“Bd到μμ”，发生在美粒子转变为两个称为μ子的粒子时。
The decay identified by researchers, known as "Bd to mu mu," occurs when a beauty particle transforms into two particles called muons.
剑桥大学卡文迪许实验室的哈利·克利夫博士领导了此次分析，他说：“这一过程每一百亿个美粒子中才会发生一次，所以极难发现。”
"This process only happens for one in every ten billion beauty particles, so it's incredibly difficult to find,” said Dr. Harry Cliff of the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory, who led the analysis.
大型强子对撞机可以探测约100仄米量级的距离。一仄米是一万亿分之一米的万亿分之一。
The Large Hadron Collider can probe distances of around 100 zeptometers. A zeptometer is a trillionth of a billionth of a meter.
剑桥大学表示：“这些结果可能为一个被称为‘仄米宇宙’的奇异新世界打开大门，在那里可能隐藏着有助于解释暗物质之谜以及大爆炸期间物质如何产生的粒子。”
"The results could open the door to a strange new world known as the zeptoverse, where particles that could help explain mysteries like dark matter and how matter came into existence during the Big Bang may be hiding," Cambridge said.
大型强子对撞机迄今尚未产生确凿证据，证明标准模型延伸理论所预测的许多新粒子存在。这促使研究人员考虑，新物理是否可能存在于更小的距离尺度上。
The Large Hadron Collider has so far not produced definitive evidence of many of the new particles predicted by theories extending the Standard Model of particle physics. This has led researchers to consider whether new physics could exist at even smaller distance scales.
LHCb实验专门设计用于研究包含美夸克的粒子，当高能粒子在对撞机内部碰撞时，会大量产生此类粒子。
The LHCb experiment was specifically designed to study particles containing beauty quarks, which are produced in large numbers when high-energy particles collide inside the collider.
这项研究涉及来自英国、德国、意大利、西班牙和荷兰的约20名物理学家。
The research involved about 20 physicists from the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.
这些尚未经过同行评审的研究结果，原定于周二在欧洲核子研究中心（CERN）发布。
The findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, were scheduled to be presented at CERN on Tuesday.