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Tetraquarks in the sights: The SPECF (Spectroscopy and Flavour) section

Mesons are short-lived particles consisting of a quark and an antiquark. In nature, they are created for example when cosmic radiation hits the Earth’s atmosphere. In the laboratory, mesons can be specifically generated in accelerator experiments.

Because they are held together mainly by the strong interaction, their investigation provides detailed insights into this fundamental force of nature. In recent years, evidence has been growing that there are not only conventional mesons but also novel particles with an exotic quark content.

At the Helmholtz Institute Mainz, the SPECF (Spectroscopy and Flavour) section investigates the mesons using the methods of spectroscopy: With the help of accelerators, the scientists generate excited states of the particles in order to analyze them accurately with detectors. The focus of the activities is on future experiments at the PANDA detector, which is being realized at the new FAIR accelerator complex at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt.

Details on the HIM-Website.

Prof. Dr. Achim Denig

Section leader

denig@kph.uni-mainz.de

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