EVERYONE knows the electron carries an electric charge, but how many know it also has another charge? This one, which measures how strongly electrons feel the weak force, has been measured directly for the first time.
The weak force is one of the fundamental forces of nature, but unlike electromagnetism it exerts its effects over such a short range that they are usually only felt inside subatomic particles. The force is involved in radioactive decay, for example.
Studies of electron-positron interactions had shown that electrons have a small “weak charge”. Now, to get a direct measurement of weak charge, physicists…
