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The new pentaquark, illustrated here as a pair of standard hadrons loosely bound in a molecule-like structure. Courtesy CERN |
Scientists working with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have discovered three subatomic particles never seen before as they work to unlock the building blocks of the universe, the European nuclear research centre CERN said on Tuesday.
The 27 kilometre-long (16.8 mile) LHC at CERN is the machine
that found the Higgs boson particle, which along with its linked energy field
is thought to be vital to the formation of the universe after the Big Bang 13.7
billion years ago.
Now scientists at CERN say they have observed a new kind of
"pentaquark" and the first-ever pair of "tetraquarks",
adding three members to the list of new hadrons found at the LHC.
They will help physicists better understand how quarks bind
together into composite particles.
Quarks are elementary particles that usually combine in
groups of twos and threes to form hadrons such as the protons and neutrons that
make up atomic nuclei.
More rarely, however, they can also combine into four-quark
and five-quark particles, or tetraquarks and pentaquarks.
"The more analyses we perform, the more kinds of exotic
hadrons we find," physicist Niels Tuning said in a statement.
"We're witnessing a period of discovery similar to the
1950s, when a 'particle zoo' of hadrons started being discovered and ultimately
led to the quark model of conventional hadrons in the 1960s. We're creating
'particle zoo 2.0'."
In another development, ten years after it discovered the
Higgs Boson, the Large Hadron Collider is about to start smashing protons together
at unprecedented energy levels in its quest to reveal more secrets about how
the universe works.
The world's largest and most powerful particle collider
started back up in April after a three-year break for upgrades in preparation
for its third run.
From Tuesday, it will run around the clock for nearly four
years at a record energy of 13.6 trillion electronvolts, the European
Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced at a press briefing last
week.
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