Or a different angle on the muon challenge.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...-measurements/
"Despite the recent experimental success, theory-based problems remain. In the subatomic realm, the Standard Model reigns as the current theory of fundamental particles and their interactions. But the Standard Model leaves physicists unsatisfied; it doesn’t explain phenomena such as dark matter or mysteries such as the surprisingly low mass of the Higgs boson. Such limitations have pushed researchers to hunt for as-yet-undescribed new particles within the Standard Model—ones that could subtly influence the muon’s behavior in ways theory does not predict."
The counter is a belief in new physics, or a dramatic change in what we think we know.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...r-new-physics/
"Despite its remarkable success in explaining the fundamental particles and forces that make up the universe, the Standard Model’s description remains woefully incomplete. It does not account for gravity, for one thing, and it is similarly silent about the nature of dark matter, dark energy and neutrino masses. To explain these phenomena and more, researchers have been hunting for new physics—physics beyond the Standard Model—by looking for anomalies in which experimental results diverge from theoretical predictions."
"“My first impression is ‘Wow,’” says Gordan Krnjaic, a theoretical physicist at Fermilab, who was not involved in the research. “It’s almost the best possible case scenario for speculators like us.... I’m thinking much more that it’s possibly new physics, and it has implications for future experiments and for possible connections to dark matter.”"
A realization I really wish people would come to about our understanding of the universe, physics, and pretty much any subject of study, we know a tiny fraction of what we think we do. We are in our infancy of understanding the world around us let alone the universe and how it ultimately works. We will continue to make discoveries and gain knowledge only to understand just how much more stuff we don't get and are centuries from mastering such knowledge. One of my favorite videos is this one about the JWST and just how far we have come and how little we really know (go to 7:12 for importance).
Maybe 4% knowledge of our universe. MAYBE. And that may be a gross over estimation as well. The best scientists and the real thinkers always have this understanding as they take on the challenge of expanding our understanding of any subject. When we discover something new it only leads to more questions and displays how incomplete our knowledge is. We have so many amazing discoveries to look forward to as we continue to grow and evolve as a species and build a collective knowledge. The most important thing we can do when we research is understand how incomplete our knowledge is and we don't know what we don't know. And we must be open to the idea that the things we think we know are all wrong. Imagine if all this time Einstein was wrong and the constant is not constant? Physics would be turned on its collective head.
Looking forward to more experimentation into muons and what they ultimately discover for us as we have such a long way to go, if we don't cause a
mass extinction event first through our day-to-day actions on this tiny blue marble.