Electrons are incredibly round.
This perfect roundness adds to the mystery of how the universe became filled with matter instead of antimatter. If there were any asymmetry in the shape of the electron, specifically in the distribution of its electric charge, it would indicate an asymmetry in the laws of nature that could explain this aspect of the cosmos.
The measurement of the electron’s electric dipole moment, which is a property related to its shape, is twice as precise as the previous best measurement (SN: 10/17/18).
“I don’t think Guinness tracks this, but if they did, we’d have a new world record,” says physicist Tanya Roussy of the University of Colorado Boulder. The new measurement is so precise that if an electron were the size of Earth, any asymmetry in its shape would have to be smaller than an atom.
2023-07-06 13:00:00
Article from www.sciencenews.org