Scientists discover new type of proton—revealing the force behind what binds all atoms

Look alive, science fans — a new subatomic particle has just dropped after a 20-year search.

Discovered by British researchers at the nuclear research laboratory CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, the discovery of the proton — which has been coined Xi-cc-plus and is four times heavier than a regular proton — is a big deal for scientists because it could help them understand exactly what keeps all atoms together, as reported by The Times.

The particle was pinpointed in a collection of debris that made the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) light up. The LHC is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, which was also built at the CERN lab between 1998 and 2008 for the explicit purpose of examining the smallest known particles known to man.

Xi-cc-plus is the heavier version of the proton. CERN

20 years ago, physicists thought they had spotted this particular particle, but it was at a much lower mass.

“Not only is it interesting discovering the particle in its own right – the Xi_cc⁺ has been searched for for a long time – but it also really shows the power that these upgrades to the LHC are having,” University of Manchester Professor of physics Chris Parkes said, according to NewScientist.

“The more we learn about these particles, the more we can learn about the strong force, and that is the same strong force that binds our protons and neutrons together,” he added, according to The Guardian.

He explained that the data sample was particularly special because it showed more information than would ever have been available in former years.

“In one year’s data sample, we were able to see something that we couldn’t see with 10 years of data from the previous generation,” Parkes added.

This discovery is a big deal for the team of scientists. AFP via Getty Images

The detector was upgraded with the aim of becoming more powerful, which enabled the discovery in the first place.

For those of you who snoozed through science class, protons are the minuscule particles at the center of an atom.

The LHC mashes these together close to the speed of light, which results in microcosm conditions reminiscent of the Big Bang. The energy then converts to particles that shoot out in every direction.

Xi-cc-plus acts in the same manner as a rubber band, as it gathers force with the increase of the distance between subatomic particles.

“This is just the first of many expected insights that can be gained with the new LHCb detector,” Prof Tim Gershon at the University of Warwick, who takes over as the LHCb international lead this July,  told The Guardian. “The improved detection capability allowed us to find the particle after only one year, while we could not see it in a decade of data collected with the original LHCb.”