pentaquark

July 1, 2003 8:10 PM

Physicists have discovered a new class of subatomic particle that will provide unexpected insights into the fundamental building blocks of matter. The new particle is the so-called pentaquark - five quarks in formation.
posted by stbalbach (12 comments total)

I think I saw these guys at an air show, once. They were pretty cool!
posted by Slithy_Tove at 9:03 PM on July 1, 2003

was that 15 billion years ago?

Now they believe they know of a particle containing five quarks that perhaps could have been common in the very early universe.
more details from NYT (yeah, that's a blair-reviewed scientific journal)

ok, here (arxiv) is the original paper.
posted by MzB at 9:42 PM on July 1, 2003

2-, 3-, and 5-quark particles. Even at the subatomic level, the law of fives holds true.
posted by sfenders at 9:43 PM on July 1, 2003

That's because it is a transcendental condition of apperception.
posted by crunchburger at 9:46 PM on July 1, 2003

That's also why Discordianism is a joke/satire religion, at least to those who get it.

A Discordian high priest once declared that from now on celebrities will die in threes and its been true ever since.
posted by skallas at 9:53 PM on July 1, 2003

...celebrities will die in threes and its been true ever since.
Hepburn, Hackett and Who?
(This may be a MeFi record for thread derail... from fundamental matter to celebrity dead pool in five comments... I'm proud to be contributing...)

BTW, I thought this was all revealed back in the '70s in "The Pentaquark Papers"...
posted by wendell at 2:50 AM on July 2, 2003

Hepburn, Hackett and Who?

Take your pick-- Strom Thurmond or Robert McCloskey.
posted by Cerebus at 5:31 AM on July 2, 2003

Hepburn, Hackett and Who?

Bob Hope is getting worried.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 5:53 AM on July 2, 2003

Nothing against the discordians but I predict a discovery of an eight quark configuration based on a different property of addition.
posted by wobh at 7:19 AM on July 2, 2003

*appreciates crunchburger's Kant joke*
posted by goethean at 8:14 AM on July 2, 2003

I predict a discovery of an eight quark configuration

Octoquarks would likely be found in great profusion around Discworld, where it likely forms masses of Octogen and Octiron. Ponder Stibbons, of the Unseen University's High Energy Magic Lab, is probably looking into it, but probably won't talk about it until he can find a way to avoid saying, "eight."
posted by SPrintF at 8:17 PM on July 2, 2003

*sets clock*
posted by crunchburger at 9:01 PM on July 3, 2003