The double-charm tetraquark (T+
cc, ccud) is a type of long-lived tetraquark that was discovered in 2021 in the LHCb experiment conducted at the Large Hadron Collider.[3][4][2][5] It contains four quarks: two charm quarks, an anti-up and an anti-down quark.[1]
Classification | meson |
---|---|
Composition | 2 charm quarks 1 up antiquark 1 down antiquark |
Statistics | bosonic |
Family | hadron |
Mass | 3868±124 MeV/c2[1] |
Mean lifetime | 1.35+0.31 −0.21×10−21 s[1] |
Electric charge | +1 |
Spin | 1+[1] |
Isospin | 0[2] |
It has a theoretical computed mass of 3868±124 MeV/c2.[1] The discovery showed an exceptionally strong peak, with 20-sigma significance.[6]
It is hypothesized that studying the behavior of the double-charm tetraquark may play a part in explaining the behavior of the strong force.[7] Following the discovery of the T+
cc, researchers now plan experiments to find its double-beauty counterpart Tbb.[8] This tetraquark has been found to have a longer lifespan than most known exotic-matter particles.