Ever wonder if a parallel universe really does exist?

Some Boston University professors and graduate students think so, and they’re taking lead roles in developing new research and analysis tools in hopes of proving that a “shadow universe” is out there.

Recent experiments at the Brookhaven National Laboratory are closing in on proof that every particle in our universe has a counterpart, and although it has yet to be definitively observed, College of Arts and Sciences physics professors Lee Roberts, James Miller and Robert Carey – along with two BU graduate students – are taking time to research and prove the theory.

Certain particles’ rotation rates may be the piece of data that will help them prove the existence of atoms with opposite orientations in a “shadow universe.”

New data gathered at the Brookhaven Laboratory cites that “muons,” or particles similar to electrons, spin slightly faster when subjected to a magnetic field, Miller said. Scientists “can measure [the rate muons spin] very accurately and then compare it with a very accurate prediction,” he added, noting that the new results concur with previous tests dating back to 1984.

Roberts, who acts as Brookhaven’s spokesman, said the phenomenon, induced by a magnetic field, is like a spinning top.

“Its axis tips and it wobbles around in a circle,” he said. “And the rate at which it spins around is the interesting question.”

The rate at which the muons spin does not agree with predictions made from the Standard Model, the physics model used to describe the universe, Roberts said.

Miller said the research is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. BU supplies the facilities and the equipment needed, which includes a superconducting magnet and a vacuum chamber.

This field of study, known as Supersymmetry, predicts the irregular spin of muons as they move through a magnetic field and the existence of the unknown shadow particles, according to a BU press release. Although research has been ongoing since 1984, recent experiments have provided accurate and updated results.

And Roberts said the effort to prove the existence of a “shadow universe” spans beyond BU. Yale University, Brookhaven National Lab, the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois, the University of Heidelberg in Germany and the National Accelerator Lab in Japan have all been involved, he said.

CAS graduate students Jonathan Paley and Xiaobo Huang have been working on the Muon G-2 Collaboration at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., according to the press release.

“This is consistent in the spirit of other things we have done,” Miller said, “but the results are wider-reaching.”

Still, even with the new funding, the project needs more cash to be truly effective, he said.

“All the data we have has been analyzed, what we need to do is get more funding” in order to continue to improve our results while simultaneously decreasing the margin of error, Miller said.