Physicists hunt for exotic particles in Large Hadron Collider data
Scientists at CERN observed a rare particle decay for the first time and searched for theoretical "pentaquarks" that could upend our understanding of matter. The null result narrows the search space for these hidden exotic particles, advancing efforts to map fundamental physics—work critical for next-generation particle detector development and quantum computing applications.
Originaltitel: First observation of the Λ<sup>0</sup><sub>𝑏</sub> → Λ<sup>+</sup><sub>𝑐</sub>𝐷<sup>−</sup><sub>𝑠</sub>𝐾<sup>+</sup>𝐾<sup>−</sup> decay and search for pentaquarks in the Λ<sup>+</sup><sub>𝑐</sub>𝐷<sup>−</sup><sub>𝑠</sub> system
<p>The Λ0𝑏 → Λ+𝑐𝐷−𝑠𝐾+𝐾− decay is observed for the first time using the data sample from proton-proton collisions recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the LHCb detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6 fb<sup>−1</sup>. The ratio of branching fraction to that of Λ0𝑏 → Λ+𝑐𝐷−𝑠 decays is measured as 0.0141 ±0.0019 ±0.0012, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. A search for hidden-charm pentaquarks with strangeness is performed in the Λ+𝑐𝐷−𝑠 system. No evidence is found, and upper limits on the production ratio of 𝑃𝑐¯𝑐𝑠(4338)0 and 𝑃𝑐¯𝑐𝑠(4459)0 pentaquarks relative to the Λ+𝑐𝐷−𝑠 final state are set at the 95% confidence level as 0.12 and 0.20, respectively.</p>