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March 17, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A \u2018charmed\u2019 new particle is discovered at world\u2019s largest atom smasher<\/p>\n The Large Hadron Collider just produced a never-before-seen particle made of charm and down quarks<\/p>\n By Clara Moskowitz edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n Artist\u2019s impression of the new particle, which contains two charm quarks and one down quark.<\/p>\n Physicists just discovered a brand-new particle that appears to be an exotic cousin to the protons and neutrons that make up atoms.<\/p>\n Those mundane subatomic particles are made up of even smaller building blocks of matter called \u201cup\u201d and \u201cdown\u201d quarks, which are the lightest kinds of quarks. But quarks come in heavier flavors as well, including \u201ccharm,\u201d \u201cstrange,\u201d \u201cbottom\u201d and \u201ctop\u201d (the most massive fundamental particle known).<\/p>\n The new particle, discovered at the world\u2019s largest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland, contains two charm quarks and a down quark. Like protons and neutrons, its total of three quarks classifies it in particle physics as a baryon, which is a type of hadron\u2014or a particle made of quarks. The discovery brings the current tally of known hadrons discovered by LHC experiments to 80.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The new particle, which physicists are calling a doubly charmed baryon, essentially replaces the two up quarks in a proton with charm quarks, giving it about four times the mass of the more common and stable proton.<\/p>\n The LHC accelerates protons to more than 99 percent the speed of light and then slams them together. The protons are destroyed, and the energy of the crash gives rise to new particles in their wake. Every time a doubly charmed baryon was created within the collider, it quickly decayed into lighter particles.<\/p>\n The new particle was discovered by the LHCb experiment, one of nine detectors stationed around the LHC\u2019s 17-mile-long ring. It\u2019s the first new particle seen at the experiment since scientists upgraded LHCb in 2023.<\/p>\n The doubly charmed baryon is only the second baryon with two heavy quarks ever seen\u2014the rest have all contained two up or down quarks and just one of the heavier flavors. The previous heavy baryon was discovered in 2017, also at LHCb, and consists of two charm quarks and an up quark. Despite their similarities, the newfound particle is even less stable than the other heavy baryon, with a lifetime predicted to be about six times shorter.<\/p>\n Finding these kinds of particles helps teach physicists about the strong force, which is the most powerful force in nature and binds hadrons together. The strong force is also the most mysterious and confusing force, governed by a complex theory called quantum chromodynamics. Physicists hope to understand how the strong force holds quarks together and how the composite particles\u2019 properties, such as mass and spin, arise.<\/p>\n Physicists announced the discovery this week at the Moriond particle physics conference in Italy.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" March 17, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm A \u2018charmed\u2019 new particle is discovered at world\u2019s largest atom smasher The Large Hadron Collider just produced a never-before-seen particle made of charm and down quarks By Clara Moskowitz edited by Claire Cameron Artist\u2019s impression of the new particle, which contains two charm quarks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[12414,11436,11549,5475],"class_list":{"0":"post-47015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-charmed","9":"tag-discover","10":"tag-particle","11":"tag-physicists"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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