Friday 28 February 2025
Scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have been studying the mysteries of heavy quarks and their role in creating charmonia, a type of subatomic particle that’s similar to a glue-like substance holding quarks together. The LHC is a massive particle accelerator that smashes protons together at incredibly high speeds, producing a soup of particles that scientists can study to learn more about the fundamental nature of matter.
One of the key puzzles in this field is understanding how charmonia are created. Charmonia come in different forms, but one of the most well-studied types is called J/ψ, which is made up of two charm quarks and their antiparticles. J/ψ particles are particularly interesting because they can be used to study the properties of the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter that’s thought to have existed in the early universe.
The LHC has been colliding protons at an energy of 5.02 TeV (tera-electronvolts) for several years now, producing vast amounts of data that scientists can analyze to learn more about charmonia and other particles. One of the key challenges is separating out the different types of J/ψ particles from the background noise of other particles produced in the collisions.
A recent study published by the ALICE collaboration used a clever technique called displaced topology to separate out the prompt and non-prompt J/ψ particles. The idea is that prompt J/ψ particles are created directly at the collision vertex, while non-prompt J/ψ particles come from the decay of other particles containing beauty quarks.
By analyzing the data in this way, scientists were able to create detailed maps of how charmonia are produced and interact with other particles in the quark-gluon plasma. The results show that both prompt and non-prompt J/ψ particles play important roles in understanding the properties of this state of matter.
One of the most interesting findings is that the non-prompt J/ψ particles provide a window into the energy loss of beauty quarks as they travel through the quark-gluon plasma. This is an important area of study because it can help scientists understand how quarks lose energy and momentum as they interact with other particles in the plasma.
The results of this study are already shedding light on some of the mysteries of charmonia production, but there’s still much to be learned.
Cite this article: “Unveiling the Secrets of Charmonia Production at CERNs Large Hadron Collider”, The Science Archive, 2025.
Large Hadron Collider, Heavy Quarks, Charmonia, J/Ψ Particles, Quark-Gluon Plasma, Particle Accelerator, Proton Collisions, Beauty Quarks, Energy Loss, Subatomic Particles
