News in Brief Particle Physics

Newfound particle relies on its charm(s)

Large Hadron Collider smashup reveals predicted quark combo’s existence

illustration of new particle

LUCKY CHARM  Scientists with the LHCb experiment near Geneva have found a new particle (illustrated) that has two heavy quarks, known as charm quarks, and one up quark.

Daniel Dominguez/CERN

By Emily Conover

- More than 2 years ago

A newly discovered particle is dishing out a double dose of charm.

The newcomer is a baryon, meaning that it’s composed of three smaller particles called quarks — in this case, two “charm” quarks and one “up” quark.