Mesonic molecule

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A mesonic molecule is a set of two or more mesons bound together by the strong force. [1] [2] Unlike baryonic molecules, which form the nuclei of all elements in nature save hydrogen-1, a mesonic molecule has yet to be definitively observed. [3] The X(3872) discovered in 2003 and the Z(4430) discovered in 2007 by the Belle experiment are the best candidates for such an observation.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadron</span> Composite subatomic particle

In particle physics, a hadron is a composite subatomic particle made of two or more quarks held together by the strong interaction. They are analogous to molecules that are held together by the electric force. Most of the mass of ordinary matter comes from two hadrons: the proton and the neutron, while most of the mass of the protons and neutrons is in turn due to the binding energy of their constituent quarks, due to the strong force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meson</span> Subatomic particle; made of equal numbers of quarks and antiquarks

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muon</span> Subatomic particle

A muon is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with an electric charge of −1 e and a spin of 1/2, but with a much greater mass. It is classified as a lepton. As with other leptons, the muon is not thought to be composed of any simpler particles; that is, it is a fundamental particle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muonium</span> Exotic atom made up of an antimuon and an electron

Muonium is an exotic atom made up of an antimuon and an electron, which was discovered in 1960 by Vernon W. Hughes and is given the chemical symbol Mu. During the muon's 2.2 µs lifetime, muonium can undergo chemical reactions. Because, like a proton, the antimuon's mass is vastly larger than that of the electron, muonium is more similar to atomic hydrogen than positronium. Its Bohr radius and ionization energy are within 0.5% of hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium, and thus it can usefully be considered as an exotic light isotope of hydrogen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Particle physics</span> Study of subatomic particles and forces

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pion</span> Lightest meson

In particle physics, a pion is any of three subatomic particles:
π0
,
π+
, and
π
. Each pion consists of a quark and an antiquark and is therefore a meson. Pions are the lightest mesons and, more generally, the lightest hadrons. They are unstable, with the charged pions
π+
and
π
decaying after a mean lifetime of 26.033 nanoseconds, and the neutral pion
π0
decaying after a much shorter lifetime of 85 attoseconds. Charged pions most often decay into muons and muon neutrinos, while neutral pions generally decay into gamma rays.

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A timeline of atomic and subatomic physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lepton</span> Class of elementary particles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subatomic particle</span> Particle smaller than an atom

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The bottom quark,beauty quark, or b quark, is an elementary particle of the third generation. It is a heavy quark with a charge of −1/3 e.

The muon neutrino is an elementary particle which has the symbol
ν
μ
and zero electric charge. Together with the muon it forms the second generation of leptons, hence the name muon neutrino. It was discovered in 1962 by Leon Lederman, Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger. The discovery was rewarded with the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. F. Powell</span> British physicist

Cecil Frank Powell, FRS was a British physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for heading the team that developed the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and for the resulting discovery of the pion (pi-meson), a subatomic particle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Steinberger</span> German-American physicist, Nobel laureate (1921–2020)

Jack Steinberger was a German-born American physicist noted for his work with neutrinos, the subatomic particles considered to be elementary constituents of matter. He was a recipient of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Leon M. Lederman and Melvin Schwartz, for the discovery of the muon neutrino. Through his career as an experimental particle physicist, he held positions at the University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University (1950–68), and the CERN (1968–86). He was also a recipient of the United States National Medal of Science in 1988, and the Matteucci Medal from the Italian Academy of Sciences in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LHCb experiment</span> Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider

The LHCb experiment is a particle physics detector experiment collecting data at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. LHCb is a specialized b-physics experiment, designed primarily to measure the parameters of CP violation in the interactions of b-hadrons. Such studies can help to explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. The detector is also able to perform measurements of production cross sections, exotic hadron spectroscopy, charm physics and electroweak physics in the forward region. The LHCb collaboration, who built, operate and analyse data from the experiment, is composed of approximately 1260 people from 74 scientific institutes, representing 16 countries. Chris Parkes succeeded on July 1, 2020 as spokesperson for the collaboration from Giovanni Passaleva. The experiment is located at point 8 on the LHC tunnel close to Ferney-Voltaire, France just over the border from Geneva. The (small) MoEDAL experiment shares the same cavern.

In particle physics, a rho meson is a short-lived hadronic particle that is an isospin triplet whose three states are denoted as
ρ+
,
ρ0
and
ρ
. Along with pions and omega mesons, the rho meson carries the nuclear force within the atomic nucleus. After the pions and kaons, the rho mesons are the lightest strongly interacting particle, with a mass of 775.45±0.04 MeV for all three states.

The X(3872) is an exotic meson candidate with a mass of 3871.68 MeV/c2 which does not fit into the quark model because of its quantum numbers. It was first discovered in 2003 by the Belle experiment in Japan and later confirmed by several other experimental collaborations. Several theories have been proposed for its nature, such as a mesonic molecule or a diquark-antidiquark pair (tetraquark).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Onium</span> Quantum state of a particle and its antiparticle

An onium is a bound state of a particle and its antiparticle. These states are usually named by adding the suffix -onium to the name of one of the constituent particles, with one exception for "muonium"; a muon–antimuon bound pair is called "true muonium" to avoid confusion with old nomenclature.

References

  1. Trutnev, Yuri A. (1998). In The Intermissions: Collected Works On Research Into The Essentials Of Theoretical Physics In R. World Scientific. p. 106. ISBN   978-981-4495-65-3 . Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  2. Hughes, Vernon (2012). Muon Physics V3: Chemistry and Solids. Elsevier. p. 189. ISBN   978-0-323-15616-5 . Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  3. Jungmann, Klaus; Hughes, Vernon W.; Putlitz, Gisbert zu (2012). The Future of Muon Physics: Proceedings of the International Symposium on The Future of Muon Physics, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany, 7–9 May, 1991. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   978-3-642-77960-2.