scientists working with the large hadron collider lhc near geneva have discovered three particles

scientists working with the large hadron collider lhc near geneva have discovered three particles that have never been seen before

the european nuclear research center cern which built the lhc recently announced the discovery

the 27 kilometer long lhc at cern is the machine that found the higgs boson particle

this particle along with its linked energy field is thought to be important to the formation of the universe after the big bang 13.7 billion years ago

cern says the lhc works by smashing two beams together and using special devices to record the results

the two beams inside the lhc are meant to collide or hit each other at four places around a ring

there are four particle detectors at these collision spots

they are known as atlas cms alice and lhcb

atlas and cms surround the whole collision point with an enclosed detector cern's website says

the lhcb experiment uses sub-detectors to study forward particles

these are particles thrown forward by the collision in one direction

the first sub detector is close to the collision point with the others following every 20 meters

the lhcb working group observed a new kind of pentaquark and the first ever pair of tetra quarks

the findings presented recently at cern on july 5th add three members to the list of new hadrons found at the lhc

the research will help physicists better understand how quarks connect or bind together to make composite particles

quarks are particles that usually combine in groups of twos and threes to form hadrons

such as the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei

more rarely however they can also combine into four cork and five quark particles

these are called tetra quarks and pentaquarks

lhcb spokesperson chris parks described the new particles in a statement

finding new kinds of tetra quarks and pentaquarks and measuring their properties will help theorists develop a unified model of exotic hadrons

exotic is a term that means unusual

parkes said the exact nature of these exotic particles was unknown

he added that the new discoveries will also help scientists better understand already discovered hadrons

physicist niels tuning said in a statement that the more careful studies we perform the more kinds of exotic hadrons we find

tuning added we're witnessing a period of discovery similar to the 1950s

during that time new subatomic particles were being discovered which led to new ideas about subatomic physics