Positively and negatively charged versions of the same particle have been entangled for the first time, allowing us to map the hearts of atoms more precisely and opening the doors to more powerful communication tools.
The neutrons and protons that make up the nuclei of atoms are, in turn, composed of quarks. However, quarks alone would be unstable; they need gluons, the carriers of the strong force, to hold them together. Gluons are orders of magnitude too small to see, even with the most powerful microscopes – but they can still interact with photons to produce exceptionally short-lived rho particles that decay to charged two-quark particles called pions.
By measuring the angles and speed at which the positive and negative pions (π+ and π-) emerge, scientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory have created a map of gluon distribution within the nuclei of gold and uranium atoms. They report this map to be the most precise description of the inner workings of an atomic nucleus.
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