Pionium is a

composite particle This is a list of known and hypothesized microscopic particles in particle physics, condensed matter physics and cosmology. Standard Model elementary particles Elementary particles are particles with no measurable internal structure; that is, ...

consisting of one and one

meson In particle physics, a meson () is a type of hadronic subatomic particle composed of an equal number of quarks and antiquarks, usually one of each, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of quark subparticles, the ...

. It can be created, for instance, by interaction of a

proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...

beam accelerated by a

particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel electric charge, charged particles to very high speeds and energies to contain them in well-defined particle beam, beams. Small accelerators are used for fundamental ...

and a target

nucleus Nucleus (: nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucleu ...

. Pionium has a short lifetime, predicted by

chiral Chirality () is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek language, Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is dist ...

perturbation theory In mathematics and applied mathematics, perturbation theory comprises methods for finding an approximate solution to a problem, by starting from the exact solution of a related, simpler problem. A critical feature of the technique is a middle ...

to be (i.e. 2.89

femtoseconds A femtosecond is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 10 or of a second; that is, one quadrillionth, or one millionth of one billionth, of a second. A femtosecond is to a second, as a second is to approximately 31.6 ...

). It decays mainly into two

mesons In particle physics, a meson () is a type of hadronic subatomic particle composed of an equal number of quarks and antiquarks, usually one of each, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of quark subparticles, the ...

, and to a smaller extent into two photons. It has been investigated at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

to measure its lifetime. The Dimeson Relativistic Atomic Complex (DIRAC) experiment at the

Proton Synchrotron The Proton Synchrotron (PS, sometimes also referred to as CPS) is a particle accelerator at CERN. It is CERN's first synchrotron, beginning its operation in 1959. For a brief period the PS was the world's highest energy particle accelerator. It ...

was able to detect 21,227 atomic pairs from a total of events, which allows the pionium lifetime to be determined to within statistical errors of 9%. In 2006, the NA48/2 collaboration at CERN published an evidence for pionium production and decay in decays of charged

kaon In particle physics, a kaon, also called a K meson and denoted , is any of a group of four mesons distinguished by a quantum number called strangeness. In the quark model they are understood to be bound states of a strange quark (or antiquark ...

s, studying mass spectra of daughter

pion In particle physics, a pion (, ) or pi meson, denoted with the Greek alphabet, Greek letter pi (letter), pi (), is any of three subatomic particles: , , and . Each pion consists of a quark and an antiquark and is therefore a meson. Pions are the ...

pairs in the events with three pions in the final state K^± → π^±(ππ)_atom → π^±π⁰π⁰. This was followed by a precision measurement of the S-wave pion

scattering length The scattering length in quantum mechanics describes low-energy scattering. For potentials that decay faster than 1/r^3 as r\to \infty, it is defined as the following low-energy limit: : \lim_ k\cot\delta(k) =- \frac\;, where a is the scatterin ...

, published by the collaboration in 2009. The results of the above experiments will provide crucial tests of low-energy

QCD In theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in ...

predictions.

References

{{Particles Mesons Onia

See also

References