New particle found by Japanese and Chinese

[MattBaker]

I'm not really a physicist and didn't understand half of it but I'll start a thread anyway.

So, apparently it's not only CERN working on the tiny stuff but also Japan and China. And they've apparently found a new subatomic particle now called Zc(3900). The weird thing about Zc(3900)? It appears to consist of four quarks instead of three like protons or neutrons!

This article says:

Initial indications are that Zc(3900) is indeed a previously unknown type of matter—a particle with four quarks. Combined, the research teams have found 460 examples of the Zc(3900) particle giving serious credence to their actual existence. Thus far, the particle appears to have an electric charge and at least one charm and one anti-charm quark. Both teams suspect that it also has an up and anti-down quark as well, giving it its full complement of four quarks.

Both research teams point out that there might be other explanations for their findings—Zc(3900) could simply be a pair of two-quark particles bound together, for example. Another possibility is that it's a pair of two-quark particles that are loosely bound, which would mean they are simply interacting for a very short time span.

And some abstract physics jibberish I'm too stupid to understand...


Apparently there are also other candidates for the status of a tetraquark and now comes the part where I haven't studied enough physics again:
What would it mean to our current understanding of physics if there are these tetraquarks and they actually exist? Is the current quark model to inaccurate or even false? What could it change in our current understanding of physics?

 

[Quick_Nick]

Neat, but I was hoping on a new elementary particle, not a clump of quarks that exist for a billionth of a second at high energies.
I can't say I understand much though, like how matter and antimatter can be considered stable together. I kind of get it but... yeah. I don't immediately see this explaining anything significant about the universe.

 

[Urwumpe]

It could also be a rather normal type of matter, the idea that it is one particle with four quarks is not the only one, it could also be two particles with two quarks joined as pair and acting like one, this interpretation is actually more likely since it is at a lower energy level.