To understand more about the particles that make up our observable universe, scientists are holding up a ‘mirror’ to protons and neutrons. By comparing the so-called mirror nuclei, helium-3 and triton, the MARATHON experiment at the US Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has uncovered new insights about these particles’ structures. The findings were published in Physical Review Letters on February 9th, 2022.
Quarks and gluons, the fundamental particles that make up much of the matter we see in the universe, are buried deep within the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei. Nobel Prize-winning research at DOE’s Stanford Linear Accelerator Center first proved the existence of quarks and gluons half a century ago (now known as SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory).
