Just when it could be thought that humans have reached the pinnacle of research and discoveries, there comes another one. The universe is so vast and full of possibilities that if one keeps finding, there is no end to the discoveries that could be made. However, such advancements are not easy to make. It takes an extensive and excessive amount of research to make new and innovative breakthroughs. Similarly, the field of physics is just as vast and evolving with time.
Recently, scientists and researchers at CERN have found a new particle that was not known before. This particle is made up of two quarks and two light antiquarks. This discovery was made with the Large Hadron Collider (LHCb), called the Tcc+. It is being named a tetraquark as disclosed at the European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS-HEP).
The particle is the most stable one when compared to other particles in its category. Basically, the matter is made up of quarks and these quarks get together to become hadrons and baryons like the ones we know as protons and neutrons. They have around 3 quarks and mesons. More particles have been discovered ever since that have more than 3 quarks and are called exotic hadrons. This particle is so stable it is being called a super-exotic hadron.
This hadron has two charm quarks and one up and one down antiquark. It is not like regular equally balanced particles. In fact, they are called open charm or double open charm that has a charm number of 2.
It is also the first particle to have two quarks and two antiquarks at the same time. The mass of this is almost the same as the mass of two mesons. This makes it more stable and less ready for annihilation, making it the most long-lasting particle to exist in quantum physics. It also has a precise mass. These qualities have made this an interesting subject for study, opening new avenues for quantum physics that were not known before.
