<ul><li>Physicists in Germany have found an alternative explanation for an anomaly that had previously been interpreted as potential evidence for a mysterious “dark force”.</li><li>The anomaly in ytterbium atoms, which was initially thought to be linked to a new “dark force”, is now believed to be caused by the deformation of ytterbium isotopes as more neutrons are added.</li><li>The investigation, which involved high-precision measurements of shifts in ytterbium's energy levels and the mass ratios of its isotopes, could contribute to a better understanding of the structure of heavy atomic nuclei and the physics of neutron stars.</li><li>The researchers plan to further study other isotopes of ytterbium as well as isotope chains of other elements to refine constraints on possible new physics.</li></ul>

Atomic anomaly explained without recourse to hypothetical ‘dark force’

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