Chinese researchers have confirmed the existence of the sticky ball, a long-theorized new form of matter.
The discovery was made by the China-led international collaboration behind the Beijing Spectrometer III (BESIII) experiment at the Beijing Electron Positron Collider, according to the Institute of High Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Scientists first discovered a particle known as X(2370) in 2011. Subsequent studies, including measurements completed in 2024, showed that its properties matched those predicted for a sticky ball.
In the latest research, the team identified multiple new decay modes and confirmed the key characteristic of the "single-flavor" particles, providing what the researchers say is the strongest evidence yet that X(2370) is essentially a sticky ball.
The standard model of particle physics predicts that gluons, the particles that bind quarks inside protons and neutrons, can bind to each other to form sticky balls.
The researchers said the finding represents the clearest experimental evidence in nearly five decades of research into sticky balls.