Breakthrough Tracker record
Observation of a B_c*+ meson with the ATLAS detector
ATLAS reported a new state above 8σ significance with a mass and mass gap matching expectations for the long-predicted B_c*+ meson. The collaboration submitted the result to Physical Review Letters.
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- Stable ID
bc-star-plus-atlas-2026- Revision
bc-star-plus-atlas-2026.v1- Field
- Physics · Hadron spectroscopy and quantum chromodynamics
- Evidence
- Tier 1 · Peer reviewed: No
- Record state
- Provisional · Official collaboration preprint; awaiting journal publication
- Last checked
AI role
No AI assistance was disclosed in the paper or linked reporting.
Record details
- Problem or result
- Completing the lowest-lying spectrum of the meson made from a bottom antiquark and a charm quark
- Authors
- ATLAS Collaboration
- Institutions
- International ATLAS collaboration at CERN
- Result date
- May 15, 2026
Why it matters
The state fills a basic gap in the heavy-meson spectrum and tests calculations of how the strong force binds two different heavy quark flavours.
Limits
This is a new composite hadron, not a new elementary particle or evidence beyond the Standard Model. At the cutoff date it remained an official collaboration preprint submitted to a journal.
Sources
- Primary: ATLAS collaboration preprint
- Independent: CERN result explanation
Correction and revision history
- July 22, 2026 — Rechecked arXiv and INSPIRE. No refereed version or journal DOI was found; provisional/preprint-only status retained.
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