April 29, 2024

A Triple Treat From Large Hadron Collider: Three J/ψ Particles Emerging From a Single Collision Between Two Protons

Experiments including ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb at the LHC have formerly seen one or two J/ ψ particles coming out of a single particle accident, however never ever before have they seen the synchronised production of three J/ ψ particles– up until the brand-new CMS analysis.
The technique? Analysing the huge amount of high-energy proton– proton collisions collected by the CMS detector throughout the second run of the LHC, and trying to find the change of the J/ ψ particles into sets of muons, the much heavier cousins of the electrons.
From this analysis, the CMS group identified five circumstances of single proton– proton crash events in which three J/ ψ particles were produced at the same time. The result has a statistical significance of more than five standard discrepancies– the limit used to claim the observation of a particle or procedure in particle physics.
These three-J/ ψ events are really rare. To get a concept, one-J/ ψ occasions and two-J/ ψ events are about 3.7 million and 1800 times more typical, respectively. “But they are well worth examining,” states CMS physicist Stefanos Leontsinis, “A bigger sample of three-J/ ψ events, which the LHC needs to have the ability to gather in the future, should allow us to enhance our understanding of the internal structure of protons at little scales.”

A proton– proton accident occasion with 6 muons (red lines) produced in the decays of 3 J/ ψ particles. Credit: CMS/CERN
In a very first for particle physics, the CMS partnership has actually observed 3 J/ ψ particles emerging from a single collision in between 2 protons.
Its a triple treat. By sorting through data from particle accidents at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the CMS collaboration has seen not one, not two however 3 J/ ψ particles emerging from a single collision between 2 protons. In addition to being a very first for particle physics, the observation opens a brand-new window into how quarks and gluons are distributed inside the proton.
The J/ ψ particle is a special particle. It was the very first particle including a beauty quark to be found, winning Burton Richter and Samuel Ting a Nobel reward in physics and assisting to establish the quark model of composite particles called hadrons.

By sorting through information from particle accidents at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the CMS collaboration has seen not one, not 2 however 3 J/ ψ particles emerging from a single accident in between two protons. In addition to being a first for particle physics, the observation opens a brand-new window into how quarks and gluons are dispersed inside the proton.
“But they are well worth examining,” says CMS physicist Stefanos Leontsinis, “A bigger sample of three-J/ ψ occasions, which the LHC should be able to collect in the future, need to enable us to enhance our understanding of the internal structure of protons at small scales.”