Scientists in illinois discover new particle

[Kraven Trollsbane]

An unexpected new subatomic particle has been discovered in Illinois's Fermilab atom smasher, scientists announced this week.

The new particle may break all known rules for creating matter, say the researchers who created the oddity.

Y(4140)—as the new particle has been dubbed—couldn't have formed through either of the two known models for matter creation. Researchers aren't even sure what Y(4140) is made of.

It's long been accepted that six different "flavors" of particles called quarks combine to form larger subatomic particles.

In one method, a quark pairs with one of its opposites, an antiquark, to create a type of matter called a meson. In the second method, three quarks gather to form baryons, such as protons and neutrons.

(Related: "Bulk of Missing 'Normal' Matter Found in Cosmic Web.")

"The surprise about this new particle that we found is that it's not predicted by any of these rules," said Jacobo Konigsberg of the University of Florida.

"From what we know, if you tried to put a set of quarks or antiquarks together you couldn't build these particles."

from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090320-new-particle.html


pretty interesting stuff if you ask me.  i hope this is just a prelude to more discoveries like the higgs but its still just fun to see that there is new stuff out there to be found physics is kind of my thing.

[NotoriusBEN]

you know it's mind-bending stuff when scientists go "hmm... how'd that happen?"

[Kraven Trollsbane]

Yeah I love when the scientist come back with we don't know what happened.

[Josh the Aspie]

o.o For once, a thread in this section I am entirely glad I read.

This is indeed intriguing, and increases my desire to study physics as electives / continuing education courses.