Particle accelerators in Asia report a particle consisting of four quarks

Will we discover a type of particle unknown to science? Scientists at particle accelerators in Japan and China separately reported the existence of a subatomic particle consisting of four quarks, unlike the particles we know, such as protons and neutrons, which consist of only three quarks.

Will we discover a type of particle unknown to science? Scientists at particle accelerators in Japan and China separately reported the existence of a subatomic particle consisting of four quarks, unlike the particles we know, such as protons and neutrons, which consist of only three quarks.

The scientists at both accelerators are studying what happens when matter and antimatter meet. Two such particles annihilate each other and disappear in a burst of energy, creating different and strange particles. New studies have discovered that one of the by-products of this reaction is the particle consisting of four quarks, and from a preliminary point of view it appears to be composed - at least in part - of quarks different from those that make up the protons and neutrons. However, the researchers are not convinced that this is one particle, and say that it is possible that these are two new particles consisting of two quarks each.

The new particle is meanwhile called (Z_c(3900) and the first data about it are published in the journal Physical Review Letters. The scientists hope that it will help to better understand the composition of the atom and especially the different types of quarks, which are the basis of the structure of matter, and the interactions between them.

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