

New Particle Throws Monkeywrench in Particle Physics - rogercosseboom
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/03/18/new-particle-throws-monkeywrench-in-particle-physics/

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carterschonwald
does anyone here have a background that could tell us if this is legit or just
a snazzy interpretation to noisy data?

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quantumhobbit
It looks more like an interesting result with an overblown headline.

In the linked article they refer to the Y(4140) as a composite of quarks,
possibly charm and anti-charm quarks. Charm and anti-charm quarks are nothing
new, but this is a new composite particle made out of them.

Unlike normal mesons, which are a quark and its anti-quark, this is likely
composed of more than just a pair of quarks; four or more. If I had to guess I
would say that it is extremely unstable and therefore short-lived.

If it's true, this story wouldn't lead to a rewrite of the Standard Model of
particle physics but could offer some insight into the strong force works.

As for my background, I have only spent one year as an undergrad in particle
physics and that was in neutrinos and not high-energy stuff like in the
article. So I'm sure someone else here will be better prepared to do a deeper
analysis of the data.

