CERN: LHCb discovery of a new class of particles: pentaquark
▻http://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2015/07/cerns-lhcb-experiment-reports-observation-exotic-pentaquark-particles
(pentaquarks = group of 5 quarks: 2 upquarks, 1 down, 1 charm and 1 anticharm quark)
“The pentaquark is not just any new particle,” said LHCb [b for beauty, a type of very massive quark previously called “bottom” quark] spokesperson Guy Wilkinson. “It represents a way to aggregate quarks, namely the fundamental constituents of ordinary protons and neutrons, in a pattern that has never been observed before in over fifty years of experimental searches. Studying its properties may allow us to understand better how ordinary matter, the protons and neutrons from which we’re all made, is constituted.”
Researchers now need to find out how these pentaquarks are configured, ie. in what configuration they are bound together.