Enchanting discovery
Physicists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider have just discovered a new type of subatomic particle, and its composition is a world first.
The still-unnamed particle is the first, that we know of, which is made up entirely of the same type of quark, which is a building block for subatomic particles. In this case, according to pre-print research that was shared online Tuesday, the particle is made up of four enchanted quarks, an arrangement that could help physicists better investigate the underlying forces holding the particles together.
Stick together
Enchanted quarks are just one of the quark’s six flavors, along with top, bottom, weird, top and bottom. As one of the heaviest flavors, charm quarks are bound together by the same little-known fundamental force that binds protons to neutrons. The researchers hope that the unusual combination can help them explain how that particular force works.
“The particles formed by four quarks are already exotic,” said project spokesman Giovanni Passaleva in a press release, “and the one we have just discovered is the first to be comprised of four heavy quarks of the same type, specifically two lovely quarks and two spell antiques. “
Starting off
Next, the team hopes to figure out if they’ve found a true tetraquark or rather two pairs of quark that are bonded together as atoms in a molecule, though both would be valuable discoveries.
“Today’s discovery opens another exciting chapter in this scientific book, allowing us to study our particle particle theory in an extreme case,” spokesman Chris Parkes said in the statement.
READ MORE: Never before seen exotic particles discovered at CERN [University of Manchester]
More about the LHC: The LHC has just discovered a new five-particle system
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