Pions form a new kind of helium called Pionic Helium

Amazing stuff! The exotic excites physicists! Building novel, artificial atoms seems to be the new frontier!



"The ability to make artificial atoms containing exotic particles in place of electrons is giving physicists a new way of probing fundamental interactions. Now researchers have created and interrogated a novel kind of helium atom in which one of the electrons is replaced by a sub-atomic particle known as a pion."



"Among the particles previously used to make these unusual atoms is the muon, which is about 200 times as massive as the electron but otherwise has identical properties. In 2010, [researchers] ... carried out spectroscopic measurements on muonic hydrogen."



Pions form a new kind of helium – Physics World