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Observation of rare particle confirms quark theory

The CDF experiment at Fermilab

The CDF experiment at
Fermilab

Physicists of the CDF experiment at DOE's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have measured for the first time the mass and lifetime of the Omega-sub-b (Ωb), a particle that contains two strange quarks and a bottom quark. The short-lived particle is an exotic relative of the much more common proton. The CDF collaboration found 16 Omega-sub-b candidates in the large amount of data produced by the Tevatron collider at Fermilab. Calculations of the strong force that binds quarks together had predicted the mass of the particle to be in the range of 5.9 to 6.1 GeV/c2, about six times the proton mass. The CDF collaboration reported the mass to be 6.054 GeV/c2, in excellent agreement with the predictions.

[Kurt Riesselmann, 630.840.5681,
kurtr@fnal.gov]