Measuring electrons: Precise computations of their shape support Standard Model of physics

 Though it was hailed as a triumph for the "Standard Model" of physics, the reigning explanation of fundamental forces and particles, physicists were quick to emphasize that last year's discovery of the Higgs boson still left gaps in understanding the universe.

But in making the most precise measurements ever of the shape of electrons, a team of Harvard and Yale scientists, led by Harvard's Gerald Gabrielse, the George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics, John Doyle, professor of physics, and their Yale colleague David DeMille, has raised serious doubts about several popular theories of what lies beyond the Higgs boson. Their study is described in a December paper published in Science Express.

"We are trying to look for the effect of new particles beyond what is within the Standard Model, which we know is an incomplete theory of nature, similar to what is being attempted at the LHC," the Large Hadron Collider, Doyle said.