Editing 2873: Supersymmetry

{{comic
| number    = 2873
| date      = December 27, 2023 
| title     = Supersymmetry
| image     = supersymmetry 2x.png
| imagesize = 313x375px
| noexpand  = true 
| titletext = High-speed collisions at the Baby Park track may support the hypothesis that Daisy is her own evil twin, a theory first suggested by Nintendo in the game Majorana's Mask.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic imagines a "theory of supersymmetric Mario Bros." that merges the theoretical physics concept of {{w|supersymmetry}} (explained [[#Background on subatomic particles|below]]) with another "super" thing, {{w|Super Mario Bros.}}, originally developed for the {{w|Nintendo Entertainment System}} and later the ''Super'' Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), two home game consoles popular during Randall's childhood. Mario game characters are equated with certain subatomic particles, with the central protagonists Mario and Luigi (his brother) comprising the center of an atom (proton and neutron).

The "Free Luigi Decay" diagram is a {{w|Feynman diagram}}, a {{w|particle physics}} depiction of interactions between particles. This diagram reinterprets the process of {{w|free neutron decay}}, in which a neutron that is left alone &mdash; not part of a nucleus with a proton &mdash; is unstable, such that one of its constituent quarks will transform, making a more stable proton, by emitting a W<sup>-</sup> boson (not shown, or renamed), after around 10 to 30 minutes. The boson will then almost immediately decay into a suitable electron and neutrino. In Free Luigi Decay, the Luigi particle decay leads into there being a Mario, a Peach, and a notably right-handed Daisy, which would imply that this particular Daisy represents a {{w|sterile neutrino}}. The instability of a Luigi particle could be a reference to the fact that Luigi is almost never seen without Mario; decades of Mario games and spinoffs have produced just a few Luigi-only video games, such as ''{{w|Mario Is Missing!}}'' and the ''{{w|Luigi's Mansion (franchise)|Luigi's Mansion}}'' series. However, there is only one Peach-only game and no game with Daisy as the main character at all, so it's unclear whether Randall really intended to make an explanation of there being few Luigi-only games.

The Mario characters and their subatomic particle equivalents:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|-
! Particle !! Symbol !! Type !! Charge !! Mass !! Mario Character !! Notes
|-
| {{w|Proton}}
| p / p<sup>+</sup>
| Baryon<br/>('uud' quarks)
| +1
| ≲1 {{w|Dalton (unit)|m<sub>u</sub>}}
| Mario
| The hero-protagonist of a large majority of the series
|-
| {{w|Neutron}}
| n / n⁰
| Baryon<br/>('udd' quarks)
| +0
| ≳1 m<sub>u</sub>
| Luigi
| Mario's younger brother and deuteragonist of many of the games, as well as the unwilling protagonist of a few games
|-
| {{w|Antiproton}}<br/>(not involved in the diagram)
| <span style="text-decoration: overline">p</span> / p<sup>-</sup>
| Antibaryon<br/>('<span style="text-decoration: overline">uud</span>' quarks)
| -1
| as proton*
| Wario
| Mario's arch-rival, occasional antagonist/anti-hero, protagonist of the ''Wario Land'' series, and major character in the ''WarioWare'' series <!-- NOTE: WARIO IS THE ARCH-RIVAL; BOWSER IS THE ARCH-NEMESIS -->
|-
| {{w|Antineutron}}<br/>(not involved in the diagram)
| <span style="text-decoration: overline">n</span> / n<sup>-0</sup>
| Antibaryon<br/>('<span style="text-decoration: overline">udd</span>' quarks)
| -0
| as neutron*
| Waluigi
| Luigi's rival and Wario's partner, exclusively appearing in spin-off games such as ''Mario Tennis'', ''Mario & Sonic'', ''Mario Kart'', and ''Mario Party'' <!-- Note: Wario and Waluigi are stated to not be related in any capacity, most explicitly in the Mario & Sonic series -->
|-
| {{w|Electron}}
| e<sup>-</sup>
| Lepton<br/>(charged)
| -1
| 5.5x10<sup>-4</sup> m<sub>u</sub>
| (Princess) Peach
| Mario's love interest, as well as the "damsel in distress" and/or reward-giver when not a character in her own right
|-
| {{w|Positron}} / Antielectron<br/>(not depicted/involved)
| e<sup>+</sup>
| Antilepton<br/>(charged)
| +1
| as electron*
<!-- | Wapeach? -->
|-
| {{w|Electron Neutrino}}
| ν<sub>e</sub>
| Lepton<br/>(uncharged)
| 0
| Assumed >0<br/>(very small*)
| (Princess) Daisy
| Luigi's love interest{{actual citation needed}}, as well as another "damsel in distress" and/or reward-giver when not a character in her own right
|-
| Electron {{w|Neutrino#Antineutrinos|Antineutrino}}<br/>(not depicted, hypothetical)
| <span style="text-decoration: overline">ν</span><sub>e</sub>
| Antilepton<br/>(uncharged)
| 0
| as electron neutrino*
<!-- Wadaisy? -->
|}
<nowiki/>* - to within experimental uncertainty

The Mario-Peach particle relationship is appropriate. Just as Mario is attracted to Princess Peach in the first generation of Mario games, so is the Mario particle (proton) attracted to the Peach particle (electron).

The particle assignments for Peach and Daisy are also appropriate. Just as Princess Peach is often the central character (e.g., needing rescue) with Princess Daisy usually playing a supporting or secondary role, so too is the electron a well-known particle with a significant role in forming atoms and determining chemical properties, while the neutrino is more elusive, playing a less obvious role in the universe.

The title text is a pun on the title of the Nintendo 64 game ''{{w|The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask}}'' and the concept of {{w|Majorana fermion}}, which attempts to reconcile how, while many particles have separate antiparticle counterparts, certain ones do not. Until this is resolved, scientists may depict a theoretical antiparticle in place of a neutrino in order to preserve various total values across the diagram. But scientists do wonder if a neutrino is its own antiparticle, much as they have also previously wondered if {{w|Neutrino oscillation|they also flip their 'flavor'}} as a way to explain certain experimental results.

Baby Park is an oval-shaped race track in the ''{{w|Mario Kart}}'' series and used as a particle collider in the title text, first featured in ''{{w|Mario Kart: Double Dash|Mario Kart: Double Dash!!}}'' on the Nintendo GameCube, and most recently appearing in ''{{w|Mario Kart 8 Deluxe}}'' for the Nintendo Switch. The Baby Park track is unusually short by the series' standards, making collisions between racers more likely than on the other, longer tracks.

This comic was posted shortly after the release of [https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/wapeach-princess-peach-waluigi-creator-2634191/ concept art] from ''Mario Tennis'' (the game where Waluigi debuted) of Wapeach, an "evil" counterpart to Peach which was ultimately scrapped. Under the model depicted in the comic, Wapeach would serve as a positron analogue.

===Background on subatomic particles===
At the atomic level, particle interactions may involve the bulky nucleons (protons and neutrons, these being each a particular triumvirate of quark 'flavors'), electrons (smaller, charged fermions) and various others (such as neutrinos, also fermions, chargeless and often ''nearly'' massless). Sometimes other more exotic/fundamental particles (force-mediating or otherwise transient) are included.

Added within the {{w|standard model}} are the "{{w|antiparticle}}s" that are oppositely charged (or built up of more fundamental antiparticles), and further issues have required extending this further through theories of supersymmetry which further adds counterparts that have alternate '{{w|Spin (physics)|spin}}'s.

The right-handed Daisy (Electron Neutrino) means that Daisy’s direction of spin (in subatomic terms, a measurement which does not now match that of the angular momentum in classical physics which inspired its naming) is the same as the direction of motion. A left-handed Daisy (Electron Neutrino) would have the opposite value. 

Certain current understandings of the process require that the electron neutrino be an ''anti''neutrino, but antineutrinos have not so far been sufficiently confirmed to exist, with some theorising that a neutrino can be its own anti-particle (unlike the neutral neutron, composed of charged quarks, which has the similarly neutral antineutron, composed of oppositely charged antiquarks).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[List of characters with their heads on the left side and particles with their depictions on the right side.]
:Mario : Proton
:Luigi : Neutron

:Wario : Antiproton
:Waluigi : Antineutron

:Peach : Electron
:Daisy : Electron neutrino

:Free Luigi decay:
:[An illustration of Luigi → Mario + Peach + Daisy (shown with the characters' heads).]
:[Label below Daisy:] (Right-handed)

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The theory of Supersymmetric Mario Bros suggests that each fundamental particle has a Super Nintendo partner.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Mario Kart]]
[[Category:Physics]]