New predictions about the complex structure of “tetraquarks”

According to RCO News Agency, New research by Chinese and German researchers shows significant progress in the understanding of “Tetraquarks”, which are a rare and complex type of particles.

According to Advanced Science News, By developing a new approach that combines advanced mathematical methods with a simpler model of how particles interact, this research group has made important discoveries about the internal structure and mass of these particles.

The results of this research group are consistent with both the experimental data and their previous predictions. In addition, they have made predictions about tetraquarks that have not yet been observed and are likely to be investigated in future experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and other particle accelerators.

Tetraquarks are strange particles that consist of four “quarks” and this feature distinguishes them from strong particles called “hadrons”. Hadrons composed of one quark and one antiquark are called “Meson” and hadrons composed of three quarks are called “Baryon”.

Tetraquarks are much more complex and are composed of four quarks or antiquarks. Because they are much less known than other particles – both experimentally and theoretically – gaining a better understanding of them is of particular importance to the advancement of knowledge about particle physics.

Although the discovery of tetraquarks has generated considerable interest, understanding their true nature remains a challenge. The theory of “quantum chromodynamics” that describes how quarks and “gluons” interact is very complex. For this reason, it is difficult to accurately predict the properties of tetraquarks about this theory directly, leading researchers to develop various approximate models that need to be verified with experimental data.

By ignoring the continuous creation and destruction of virtual particles in the vacuum, this research group has simplified the calculations needed to determine the structure and properties of tetraquarks. This effect, which occurs at subatomic scales and can affect the behavior of particles, makes calculations much more complicated. By removing this factor, researchers were able to focus on direct interactions between quarks and gluons and make the model simple and controllable. Although this approach sacrifices accuracy to some extent, it allows for valuable predictions that can be tested with experimental data.

Using their approach, this research group investigated several tetraquarks consisting of two heavy quarks and two light antiquarks. They calculated the mass and size of the tetraquarks and determined how the four quarks are scattered in these strange hadrons.

Shi-Lin Zhu, professor of physics at Peking University and one of the researchers of this project, explained: Generally, tetraquark states are classified into meson molecules and compact tetraquark states. These two different configurations reveal the internal structures and binding mechanisms of the strange states. In addition, the compact tetraquark states have three interesting configurations. The compact tetraquark is an analog of the hydrogen molecule and the diquark-centered compact tetraquark is the analog of the helium atom.

Such diverse structures result from the larger number of quarks in tetraquarks compared to mesons and baryons, allowing for deeper exploration of the subtle properties of strong interactions. This variation provides valuable information about the complexities of the strong force and allows researchers to study its behavior in greater detail.

Most of the tetraquarks examined in this research have not yet been discovered experimentally, but the researchers are optimistic about the near future. They believe that advances in experimental technology will enable the detection of the predicted particles and allow for further testing and validation of their model of construction.

This research was published in “Physical Review D” magazine.

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