Cern researchers discover new exotic particles
After a break, the particle accelerator at Cern has been running at full speed again since Tuesday.
Researchers have discovered three new exotic particles.
Growth in the particle zoo of physics: At CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), researchers have discovered new exotic particles. The Swiss-based research institution announces this on its website. These are a so-called pentaquark and two new tetraquarks. The existence of these particles was known, but for the first time it was possible to observe them.
In physics, a particle made up of five quarks is called a pentaquark. Tetraquarks are made up of four quarks. Put together, quarks form a so-called hadron. Well-known hadrons are, for example, neutrons and protons, from which atomic nuclei are built. Quarks are therefore important building blocks of matter.
The composition of hadrons is largely unknown
With the help of the observations, the scientists hope to gain new insights into how quarks form hadrons. Their exact nature is largely unknown, said a spokesman for the research team at CERN.
Research group coordinator Niels Tuning said: ‘The more analyzes we do, the more types of exotic hadrons we find.’ You are experiencing a similar phase of discovery as in the 1950s when a whole group of hadrons was discovered. “We are in the process of creating a particle zoo 2.0,” said Tuning.
Upgraded particle accelerator works again
Ten years after the discovery of the Higgs particle, new experiments have been running in the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), in Switzerland since Tuesday. The scientists are hoping for new discoveries in order to further decipher the mysteries of matter.
After a three-year hiatus for modernization, the Large Hadron Collider restarted in April to prepare for its third run. Since Tuesday, he has been working around the clock for almost four years with a record energy of 13.6 tera-electron volts (TeV), as the Cern researchers announced.
Two proton beams are accelerated to almost the speed of light and circle in opposite directions in the 27-kilometer ring tunnel 100 meters underground. The collisions of the protons are then recorded and analyzed by thousands of scientists in a series of experiments.
