New York: Scientists claim to have built a supercomputer which has confirmed the Standard Model theory of the Universe to even greater precision than before. The 30-year-old theory encapsulates understanding of all the material that makes up the universe. However, it excludes the force of gravity which is the missing piece in the jigsaw that would extend the Model into a complete theory. The project's enormously complex calculations relate to the behaviour of tiny particles found in the nuclei of atoms, known as quarks. In order to carry out these calculations, the researchers first designed and built a supercomputer that was among the fastest in the world, capable of tens of trillions of calculations per second. The computations themselves have taken a further three years to complete. The results have revealed that the Standard Model's claim to be the best theory invented holds firm. It raises the stakes for the riddle to be solved by experiments to be conducted later this year. "Modern supercomputers and improved theoretical techniques are allowing us to explore the limits of the Standard Model to an unprecedented precision. "The next stage will be to combine such computations with new experimental results expected from the Large Hadron Collider to unravel the next level of fundamental physics,' lead scientist professor Chris Sachrajda of the University of Southampton was quoted by the ScienceDaily as saying. Added co-researcher professor Richard Kenway: "Although the Standard Model has been a fantastic success, there were one or two dark corners where experiments had been inconclusive as vital calculations were not accurate enough. We shone a light on one of these, but nothing was lurking there.' PTI
