LHC observes new particle
DEC 22, 2011
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.025779
BBC : Researchers at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider have observed a new particle , the first since the facility’s initial proton–proton collision in 2009. Called Ï b(3 P), it is composed of a bottom quark and a bottom antiquark that are bound together. Although Ï particles have been seen in previous experiments, the Ï b(3 P) is in a more excited state. “It’s . . . interesting for what it tells us about the force that holds the quark and the antiquark together—the strong nuclear force. And that’s the same force that holds, for instance, the atomic nucleus together with its protons and the neutrons,” said Roger Jones, who works on the Atlas detector at the LHC. Over the past two years, the LHC has collided some quadrillion subatomic particles; analyzing that data is helping scientists better understand the particles’ interactions.
© 2011 American Institute of Physics
