High Energy Physics and Computational Science

  Exotic particle  Artist’s impression of a tetraquark showing its four constituent quarks. (Courtesy: CERN) A theoretical study has confirmed that a particle observed at CERN’s LHCb experiment in 2022 is indeed a tetraquark – supporting earlier hypotheses that were based on the analysis of its observed decay products. Tetraquarks comprise four quarks and do not fit into the conventional classification of hadrons, which defines only mesons (quark and an antiquark) and baryons (three quarks). Tetraquarks are of great interest to particle physicists because their  exotic nature provides opportunities to deepen our understanding of the intricate physics of the strong interactions that bind quarks together in hadrons. “X(3960) is a new hadron discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC),” Bing-Dong Wan of Liaoning Normal University and Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, and the author of the study, tells  Physics World . “Since 2003, many new hadrons ha...

  In high-energy physics , researchers have unveiled how high-energy partons lose energy in nucleus-nucleus collisions, an essential process in studying quark-gluon plasma (QGP). This finding could enhance our knowledge of the early universe moments after the Big Bang. The study reveals that the jet transport coefficient over temperature cubed, a critical factor in parton energy loss in QGP , decreases with increasing medium temperature. This discovery, supported by a significant enhancement of the elliptic flow parameter (v2(pT)) for large transverse momentum (pT) hadrons, provides a more in-depth understanding of jet quenching in high-energy collisions. High-energy collisions create a hot, dense state of matter known as the QGP . As partons pass through this medium, they lose energy. This process, known as jet quenching, leads to the suppression of high pT hadrons, measured by the nuclear modification factor (RAA(pT)), and the azimuthal anisotropy, measured by the v2(pT). The tea...