LHC finds a new and very charming particle: the Xicc++ baryon

[steve2470]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/10/new_lhc_particle_turns_on_the_charm/

What happens if you get two charm quarks together in one baryon? Something four times as heavy as a proton that can help the world understand the strong nuclear force, according to boffins at the Large Hadron Collider.

Last week, CERN announced the first “unambiguous” observation of a particle comprising the two charm quarks and one up quark – something the researchers say is predicted by the standard model and has been sought for many years.

The strong nuclear force is what binds quarks together to create the protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei, and also binds quarks together to create protons and neutrons.

As with most exotic particles, the Xicc++ baryon doesn't last long, and observation comes from watching what it decays into. In this case, enough collisions in the LHC deliver up something that decays into “a ?c+ baryon and three lighter mesons, a K- kaon and two ?+ pions.

http://press.web.cern.ch/sites/press.web.cern.ch/files/file/press/2017/07/lhcb_paper_2017.07.06.pdf