In the news: CERN scientists discover 2 new subatomic particles

A smashing discovery

Scientists find New Subatomic particles

Scientists at the world's largest smasher said Wednesday they have discovered two new subatomic particles never seen before that could widen our understanding of the universe.

An experiment using the European Organization for Nuclear Research's Large Hadron Collider found the new particles, which were predicted to exist and are both baryons made from three quarks bound together by a strong force.

The discovery at the lab known by its French acronym CERN could shed more light on how things work beyond the "Standard Model" physics theory explaining the basic building blocks of matter. The results were submitted to the publication Physical Review Letters.

The new particles are more than six times as massive as the protons scientists have been crashing into each other in a 17-mile tunnel on the Swiss-French border near Geneva to see what they can discover about the makeup of the universe and its tiniest particles. The heavier weight of the two particles is due in part to their "spins" in opposite directions, which is "an exciting result," said Steven Blusk of Syracuse University in New York.

Associated Press