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“We observe electrons colliding with the energy of 11 lightning bolts.”
- Shanette De La Motte, PhD candidate
From Atoms to Galaxies
Shanette De La Motte is a physicist looking for new kinds of particle decay: the process by which a particle transforms into simpler, smaller and usually more stable constituents.
Most people have heard of ‘radioactivity’, which is the decay of unstable atoms. For example, carbon-dating of fossils is based on the decay of carbon-14, and smoke alarms operate based on the decay of americium-241. In Shanette’s work though, the starting material is much smaller than atoms – she deals with subatomic particles.
Shanette, a PhD candidate from the University of Adelaide, is investigating a particularly rare kind of decay of a subatomic particle known as a ‘B-meson’. B-mesons are exceedingly rare in nature and are very short-lived, but are more likely to occur in high-energy environments, such as immediately after the Big Bang, or in an electron-positron collider.
Like many subatomic particles, B-mesons are predicted to break down in a number of different ways – some of which are much rarer than others. Shanette is working on observing the B-meson particle decaying into two other subatomic particles: a muon and a neutrino. While it has been theorised, this decay has never been detected before – meaning Shanette would be the first person to observe and record it.
In her pursuit of this elusive physical phenomenon, she analyses data from the Belle II experiment – an ongoing experiment housed in a particle accelerator complex in Japan (pictured above), where particles are collided at extraordinary speeds. At this site, the B-meson decay is thought to occur only around 300 times per decade. Shanette believes her research will continue to advance scientific knowledge and an understanding of how particles behave on the smallest of scales throughout the universe.