The LHCb experiment has recently reported the observation of pentaquark candidates: bound states of four quarks and an antiquark. Such objects have been predicted for over 50 years, but until recently believed not to exist. I will describe the bumpy road which led to this recent observation, starting from the birth of the Quark Model, through its spectacular success in describing known mesons and baryons and searches for quark structures made out of more than the minimal quark content. I will describe the LHCb pentaquark measurement and conclude with implications of the recent observations of tetraquark and pentaquark candidates on our understanding of the fabric of matter made out of quarks.
1080 Physics Research Building - Smith Seminar Room - reception at 3:45pm in Atrium Department of Physics physics@osu.edu America/New_York publicThe LHCb experiment has recently reported the observation of pentaquark candidates: bound states of four quarks and an antiquark. Such objects have been predicted for over 50 years, but until recently believed not to exist. I will describe the bumpy road which led to this recent observation, starting from the birth of the Quark Model, through its spectacular success in describing known mesons and baryons and searches for quark structures made out of more than the minimal quark content. I will describe the LHCb pentaquark measurement and conclude with implications of the recent observations of tetraquark and pentaquark candidates on our understanding of the fabric of matter made out of quarks.
