Measurement Shows the Electron's Stubborn Roundness (scientificamerican.com)

OneHundredAndTen writes: A new article in Nature reports of a new, extremely precise measurement of the electric dipole moment of the electron. The conclusion is that, within the margin of error of the measurement, the electron remains a perfect sphere. This implies that supersymmetric theories keep running out of corners to hide, that another nail is driven into their coffin, and that string theory looks less and less compelling. By lighting up the molecules with lasers, "the scientists were able to interpret how other subatomic particles alter the distribution of an electron's charge," reports Scientific American. "The symmetrical roundness of the electrons suggested that unseen particles aren't big enough to skew electrons into squashed oblong shapes, or ovals. These findings once again confirm a long-standing physics theory, known as the Standard Model, which describes how particles and forces in the universe behave."

Comments

Re:Does it even make sense?

[sosume]

It does mention the word "sphere" 13 times though. The words "Cube" or "Pyramid" are not present either.

Re:They don't confirm the Standard Model

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Now if only the Standard Model were an actual theory, instead of a list of empirical observations.

Re:Does it even make sense?

[CSMoran]

In many scenarios electrons are not well-described by point particles. Their de Broglie wavelength is in the order of one Angstrom, depending on how fast they move. That means you have to take their wave nature into account and the only reasonable description is via the Schroedinger equation (for non-relativistic velocities), or the Dirac equation (for relativistic velocities).