28 September 2021
The simplest atomic nucleus, the hydrogen nucleus, seems to consist of three building blocks. But if you look closer, it is a bubbling mess of other particles that briefly appear and disappear. Physicists have also discovered that so-called charm quarks appear in this mess from time to time.
This is how the article about the research of, among others, Nikhef researcher Juan Rojo (Theory) in New Scientist NL into the complex composition of the proton begins. By combining thousands of measurements from different experiments, this composition has now been accurately described.