Large Hadron Collider finds new variant of particle, Chi-b(3P)

• The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), famously engaged in the quest for the Higgs boson, has turned up a heavier variant of a sub-atomic particle first discovered a quarter-century ago, scientists reported on Thursday.
• The newcomer is called Chi-b(3P), which was uncovered in the debris from colliding protons, according to research published in the open-access online journal arxiv. Like the elusive Higgs and the photon, it is a boson, meaning it is a particle that carries force.
• But while the Higgs is not believed to be made of smaller particles, the Chi-b(3) comprises two relatively heavy particles, the beauty quark and its anti-quark.
• They are bonded by the so-called "strong" force which also causes the atomic nucleus to stick together.
• The Chi-b(3P) is a heavier version of a particle that was first observed around 25 years ago. "The Chi-b(3P) is a particle that was predicted by many theorists, but was not observed at previous experiments," said James Walder, a British physicist quoted by the University of Birmingham in a press release.
• The theory behind the Higgs is that mass does not derive from particles themselves. Instead, it comes from a boson that interacts strongly with some particles but less, if at all, with others.
• Finding the Chi-b(3P) is a further test of the powers of the LHC, which became the world's biggest particle collider when it was completed in 2008.
• "Our new measurements are a great way to test theoretical calculations of the forces that act on fundamental particles, and will move us a step closer to understanding how the Universe is held together," said Miram Watson, a British research fellow working on the CHi-b(3) investigation.
  

Massive effort

A massive collaborative effort that brings in physicists from around the world, the LHC has cost more than 6.03 billion Swiss francs.