Earlier experiments that have searched
for pentaquarks have proved inconclusive.
Until now, however, no conclusive evidence
for pentaquarks had been seen.
Early this century, approximately 10 experiments found hints of evidence
for the pentaquark, a particle consisting of five quarks, when no other known particle had more than three.
Not exact matches
«They appear to have found strong evidence
for a «heavy quark»
pentaquark state,» says Ken Hicks of Ohio University.
Twelve years ago, about a dozen research groups from around the world announced that they had evidence
for a lighter
pentaquark known as theta - plus, but more detailed studies showed that all of the claims were illusory.
So say physicists working at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, who claim to have found conclusive evidence
for the existence of so - called
pentaquarks within the debris of high - energy proton collisions.
The LHCb magnet, shown under construction in 2008, studies bottom quarks and was responsible
for revealing the
pentaquark.