Zeta meson

Zeta mesons (ζ mesons) are hypothetical mesons composed of a bottom quark and either an up (ζ ), down (ζ), strange (ζ S) or charm antiquark (ζ C). Because of the top quark's short lifetime, ζ mesons are not expected to be found in nature. The combination of a top quark and bottom antiquark is not a ζ meson, but rather bottonium. Each ζ meson has an antiparticle that is composed of a top antiquark and an up (ζ ), down (ζ ), strange (ζ S) or charm quark (ζ C) respectively.
History
The ζ meson is the only currently known subatomic particle to be discovered by amateur researchers. From 1982 to 1992, Roy P. Mackal (not to be confused with this man) was the building manager for the Argonne National Laboratory, and frequently filled in for the staff who called in sick. According to Mackal, during one of these instances in 1986, he collided two lithium atoms at 90% of light speed, producing not only the expected pions but the first known ζ meson. Other Argonne physicists, like Kevin Lawrence, disagree, however, claiming what Mackal saw was simply a smeared diagram of a normal beta pion. Since then, ζ mesons have been posited to make up anywhere from 0.5% to 0.7% of cosmic rays.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu