The Large Hadron Collider Just Uncovered A New Particle That's Heavier Than A Proton

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN has done it once again, smashing matter together to help scientists discover a new particle amongst the wreckage.

This time around the physicists have uncovered what they¡¯re calling the Xi-cc++ particle, which they detailed at the high-energy physics conference in Venice.

Xi-cc++ is four times heavier than a proton, and scientists believe it¡¯s the reason the centres of atoms stick together.

The LHCb experiment was led by Dr Patrick Spradlin of Glasgow University, and he believes the latest discovery will shed light on an old puzzle surrounding the composition of atoms. You see, atoms are composed of protons and neutrons at the centre, orbited by electrons. These proton and neutron combinations are called hadrons, which themselves are a combination of three smaller particles called quarks.

Quarks are either light or heavy, and there are six types that combine in different ways to form particles. All the particles been detected so far have consisted of, at most, one heavy quark. But this time around, Spradlin and his team have confirmed the existence of a particle with two heavy quarks.

Professor Guy Wilkinson of Oxford University explained, ¡°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.¡±

Because this new particle is heavier than other quarks, it provides some insight into how these particles attract together to form the nucleus of an atom. It¡¯s a particle that¡¯s been theorised for some time, but this is the first time scientists have actual proof of its existence.