The discovery of a four-quark hadron, known as a tetraquark, challenges that theory. Previously it was thought that neutron stars, as their name implies, are made solely of neutrons. One of the most significant consequences of this discovery is that it may question our understanding of neutron stars. Groups of three quarks are known as baryons.Īn example of a baryon is a proton, which is made of two 'Up' quarks and a 'Down' quark. Quarks are said to have six ‘flavours’: Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top and Bottom.Ĭombinations of quarks within these flavours gives rise to the ‘larger’ particles. When they combine they form compound particles known as hadrons. Quarks are elementary particles, the smallest particles we know to exist. ‘It may give us a new way of looking at strong-interaction physics.’ ‘The discovery certainly doesn't fit the traditional quark model. ‘We've confirmed the unambiguous observation of a very exotic state-something that looks like a particle composed of two quarks and two anti-quarks,’ says Tomasz Skwarnicki, a specialist in experimental high-energy physics and one of the lead authors on the new paper detailing the discovery. The recent confirmation of the particle using the LHCb proves beyond any reasonable doubt that it exists. Until now the discovery of Z(4430) in 2007 was highly controversial, with physicists divided on whether it could exist or not. The discovery of a particle made essentially of four quarks does not fit with our current model of physics. This classification remained virtually unchallenged until 2007, when an international team of 400 physicists and engineers, known as the Belle Collaboration, discovered an exotic particle called Z(4430), which appeared to have two quarks and two anti-quarks. Previously it was thought that quarks - subatomic elementary particles - could not occur in groups of more than three These are types of matter that cannot be classified within the traditional quark model that is currently used. Mesons, baryons, and other kinds of particles that take part in interactions like these are called hadrons. Mesons often turn up in the decay of heavy man-made particles, such as those in particle accelerators, nuclear reactors and cosmic rays. Sometimes, quarks interact with corresponding anti-particles (such as anti-quarks), which have the same mass but opposite charges. Protons are probably the best-known baryons. When quarks combine in threes, they form compound particles known as baryons. Within the group of fermions are subatomic particles known as quarks. The second are bosons, the force particles that hold the others together. They are subdivided into two groups, the first being fermions, which are said to be the particles that make up matter. These are made of even smaller elementary particles.Įlementary particles, also known as fundamental particles, are the smallest particles we know to exist. Atoms are usually made of protons, neutrons and electrons
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