Wednesday, December 28, 2011

LHC Finds Bottomonium

Dvice.com has an article about a recent discovery from the Large Hardron Colider of a particle they have labeled Bottomonium. Like the writer of the article says, you can't make this stuff up! Anyway, Bottomonium is a quark "particle" comprised of a bottom quark and it's anti bottom quark double. Usually you combine a normal particle with an anti-particle you would get instant annihilation. But in the sub-atomic world of the quark, the outward forces of the two particles trying to destroy each other can be off set by the same strong force that binds protons and neutrons. At least for a few hundred millionths of a second, ample enough time to study.

Particle physics predicted Bottomonium but this is the first it has been observed in the lab. The particle's name is "χb(3P)" which is pronounced "kye-bee three pee."

Wikipedia article on quarkonium

No comments: