Experiments done at the collider give strong evidence for a new form of matter.
An experiment at the world's highest-energy particle collider looked at a heavy particle called a Lambda b that decays to lighter particles.
Physicists Tim Burns ofSwansea in Wales and Eric Swanson of Pitt argue in a paper that the data can't be understood unless a new type of matter is present.
The observable mass of the universe is made up of particles called quarks that combine to make the familiar protons and neutrons. The hadrons are particles that strongly interact. It's difficult to discern the inner workings of this theory, even after 50 years.
The problem child of the standard model is quantum chromodynamics. Running the world's fastest computers for years makes it hard to answer dozens of questions about hadrons.
Experiments with hadrons are important to understand quantum chromodynamics.
All hadrons used to be understood as combinations of a quark and an antiquark, like the J/psi. It has been thought that other quark combinations are possible. There was a particle called the X(3872), which appeared to be a mixture of two quarks and two antiquarks. None of the other candidates can be said to be new combinations of quarks.
Sometimes there is a new thing in the data and other times it is just a blip.
The new work combines the data from the previous years to arrive at a consistent explanation for the findings.
For the first time, we have a model that incorporates all the experimental constraints. There are four quarks and one antiquark in the new particles. According to the research, the pentaquarks are at a point where they can be observed at other laboratories.
There is only one way to interpret the data and that ispentaquark states. A whole new class of matter is at the verge of being discovered after the conclusion.
More information: T. J. Burns et al, Production of Pc states in Λb decays, Physical Review D (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.106.054029 Journal information: Physical Review D
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