DOE Office of Science: Contributions to the Standard Model of Particle PhysicsĭOE has a long history of supporting research into fundamental particles. They don’t stop until they penetrate far below the surface of the Earth-potentially more than a mile. Muons created in the atmosphere constantly hit every inch of the Earth’s surface and pass through almost any substance. However, because they move at nearly the speed of light, muons travel far before decaying. Muons exist for only 2.2 microseconds before they decay into an electron and two kinds of neutrinos. The muons that hit the Earth result from particles in the Earth’s atmosphere colliding with cosmic rays-high-energy protons and atomic nuclei that move through space at just below the speed of light. Like other leptons, the muon is affected by only three of the four fundamental forces in the universe. This means they are not made of even smaller pieces of matter. Leptons are a type of fundamental particle. Muons are similar to electrons but weigh more than 207 times as much. The muon is one of the fundamental subatomic particles, the most basic building blocks of the universe as described in the Standard Model of particle physics.
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