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LHC double heavy particle to shine

light on strong force
By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News
3 minutes

Image copyright CERN

Scientists have detected a new particle at the Large Hadron Collider

at Cern.

The discovery will help researchers learn more about the so-called
"strong force" which holds the centres of atoms together.

The existence of the new particle was theoretically predicted but this
is the first time it has been identified.

The details of the Xi-cc++ particle were presented at a high-energy

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physics conference in Venice.

The study was carried out at the LHCb experiment and led by Dr
Patrick Spradlin of Glasgow University. He said that the discovery
would "shed light on a longstanding puzzle and open an exciting
new branch of investigation".

His colleague, Prof Paul Soler, also from Glasgow University,

described the development as "a new frontier in understanding the
strong force".

Nearly all the matter that we see around us is made of neutrons and
protons, which form the centres of atoms. These are made up of
three smaller particles called quarks which can be either light or
heavy.

New arrangement

There are, however, six different types of quarks which combine in

different ways to form other kinds of particle. Those that have been
detected so far contain at most, one heavy quark.

This is the first time that researchers have confirmed the existence
of one with two heavy quarks. According to Prof Guy Wilkinson of
Oxford University, there is an intriguing difference between the new
particle and the ones that have been discovered before.

"In contrast to other particles of this type, in which the three quarks
perform an elaborate dance around each other, a particle with two
heavy quarks is expected to act like a planetary system, where the
heavy quarks are like two stars orbiting one around the other, with
the lighter quark orbiting around this binary system."

The research team will now measure the properties of the Xi-cc++ to

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establish how this new arrangement of quarks behaves and how the
strong force holds the system together. They also expect to find
more double heavy quark particles.

Another unusual property of the particle is that it has two positive

charges double that of the proton and it is four times heavier.

The researchers have submitted a paper reporting these findings to

the journal Physical Review Letters.

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