Scientists at CERN Announces Discovery of 4 New Elementary Particles

This month is the time to celebrate. On March 3, 2021, CERN announced the discovery of four new particles at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva. It, In 2009, protons, particles that make up the atomic nucleus with neutrons, began to collide.This means that the LHC özgü found a total of 59 new particles in addition to the Nobel Prize-winning Higgs boson since. Some of these new particles were expected according to our established theories, while others were completely surprised.

In 2003, the Belle experiment in Japan discovered a particle that didn’t fit anywhere. Turns out to be the first in a long series of tetraquarks. In 2015, the LHCb experiment at the LHC discovered two pentaquarks. All four new particles we recently discovered are tetraquarks with one attractive quark pair and the other two quarks. All these objects are particles, just as protons and neutrons are particles. But these are not fundamental particles: quarks and electrons are the true building blocks of matter.

Fascinating new particles

The LHC özgü discovered 59 new hadrons so far. These include the most recently discovered tetraquarks as well as new mesons and baryons. All these new particles contain heavy quarks such as “talisman” and “sub”.

It is interesting to study these hadrons. They tell us that nature is acceptable as a bound combination of quarks, even for very short periods of time. They also tell us what nature doesn’t like. For example, why do all tetras and pentaquarks contain a charm-quark pair? (with just one exception) And why are there no corresponding particles for odd quark pairs? There is currently no explanation.

Another mystery is how these particles are bound together by the strong force. One school of theorists sees them as compact objects like protons or neutrons. Others claim that they are similar to the “molecules” formed by two loosely bound hadrons. Each newly found hadron allows experiments to measure its mass and other properties, which tells us something about how the strong force behaves. This helps bridge the gap between experiment and theory. The more hadrons we can find, the better we can adjust the models to experimental facts.

(*4*)Drawing a tetraquark. Image via The Conversation

These models are crucial to achieving the LHC’s ultimate goal: finding physics beyond the standard model. Despite its success, the standard model is definitely not the last word in understanding particles. For example, it is inconsistent with the cosmological models describing the formation of the universe.

The LHC is looking for new elementary particles that could explain these differences. These particles are visible in the LHC, but may be hidden behind the particle interactions. Or they can occur as small quantum mechanical effects in known processes. Either way, finding them requires a better understanding of powerful power. With each new hadron, we improve our knowledge of the laws of nature, leading us to a better definition of the most fundamental properties of matter.

Patrick Koppenburg, Research Fellow for Particle Physics at the Netherlands National Institute of Subatomic Physics, and particle physicist Harry Cliff, University of Cambridge.

This article özgü been republished from The Conversation under Creative Commons license.

Compiled by: Feyza ÇETİNKOL

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