Observation of the doubly charmed heavy proton Ξcc+
11 hours ago
- #LHCb
- #CERN
- #Particle Physics
- LHCb experiment at CERN announced the discovery of a new heavy proton-like particle called ��cc��.
- The ��cc�� particle has a quark composition of ccd, replacing two up quarks in a proton with two charm quarks.
- Charm quarks are heavier than up quarks, making the ��cc�� about four times heavier than a proton.
- The discovery was made using proton-proton collision data from LHC Run 3 in 2024.
- The ��cc�� decays into three lighter particles: ��c�� K�� π��, with the ��c�� further decaying via p K�� π��.
- A clear peak of about 915 events was observed around 3620 MeV/c², with a signal exceeding 7 σ.
- The measured mass of the ��cc�� is 3619.97 ± 0.83 ± 0.26 (+1.90 / −1.30) MeV/c².
- The ��cc�� is the isospin partner of the ��cc���� (ccu), discovered by LHCb in 2017.
- Previous searches by other experiments like SELEX, FOCUS, BaBar, and Belle did not confirm the ��cc��.
- The upgraded LHCb detector's enhanced performance enabled this discovery.