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Particle physics

Vanishing pentaquarks

Nature volume 435, pages 287–288 (2005)Cite this article

After a first inconclusive sighting, the search for exotic particles that consist of five quarks has been hotly pursued in the past few years. But the weight of evidence is now shifting against their existence.

Correct perceptions differ from mistaken ones in that they become clearer when experimental accuracy is improved — Irving Langmuir's observation may have gained a new example with the latest report on the question of the ‘pentaquark’ particle. A high-statistics experiment at the Jefferson Laboratory in Virginia finds no evidence to support claims of the existence of this enigmatic object that have been made over the past three years. Final tests of the data remain to be completed, and a second independent experiment is still in progress. But this is a serious setback for the many who had hoped that this novel particle had revealed unexpected phenomena in quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the theory governing the ‘strong’ interactions of quarks — subatomic particles thought to be elemental and indivisible.

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Figure 1: Give me five.

References

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  1. the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP, UK

    Frank Close

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  1. Frank Close
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Close, F. Vanishing pentaquarks. Nature 435, 287–288 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/435287a

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