Fermilab Physicists Discover New Particle

By Margaret Lyons in News on Sep 4, 2008 9:10PM

Scientists at Fermilab's Dzero division have discovered a new subatomic particle. The Omega-sub-b is a "an exotic relative of the much more common proton." Oooooh, exotic!

Omaygs, as I like to call it, is made of three quarks: two strange quarks and one bottom quark. (Quarks are classified by flavor: up, down, charm, strange, top and bottom, which can be arranged in a variety of hilarious gay porn titles.) Out of around 100 trillion "collision events" in the lab's particle collider, 18 produced Omega-sub-b, and the particle decays within a trillionth of a second (illustration courtesy of DZero). But just because it's incredibly rare and profoundly short-lived doesn't mean it's not important.

The discovery of the doubly strange particle brings scientists a step closer to understanding exactly how quarks form matter and to completing the "periodic table of baryons." Baryons (derived from the Greek word "barys," meaning "heavy") are particles that contain three quarks, the basic building blocks of matter. The proton comprises two up quarks and a down quark (u-u-d). ...

"The observation of the doubly strange b baryon is yet another triumph of the quark model," said DZero cospokesperson Dmitri Denisov, of Fermilab. "Our measurement of its mass, production and decay properties will help to better understand the strong force that binds quarks together."

Well, without further ado, here's the song you know you were thinking of. [Fermilab]