The Search for Tauonium: A New Atom that Could Revolutionize Our Understanding of Matter and Fundamental Physics

In recent years, scientists have proposed the existence of a new type of atom that does not contain the traditional components of an atom, such as a nucleus and electrons. This new atom, known as tauonium, would be made up of a negatively charged tau lepton and its positively charged antimatter counterpart, an antitau.

Tau leptons are similar to electrons but are much heavier, with about 3,500 times the mass of an electron. In the 1950s, scientists discovered positronium, which is made up of an electron and its positively charged antiparticle, a positron. The potential discovery of tauonium would represent a much more robust atom compared to positronium.

Researchers propose searching for tauonium by colliding electrons and positrons together in a future particle collider designed to produce tau leptons. There are proposed facilities in both China and Russia. Physicist Jing-Hang Fu of Beihang University in Beijing and colleagues suggest that tauonium could be detected within a year of these colliders starting up. By analyzing the probability of different types of particle interactions in the collisions, experimental uncertainty could be reduced.

Studying tauonium without the complexity of the atomic nucleus would allow for a closer examination of the physics theory that describes electrically charged particles, quantum electrodynamics. Similar studies of positronium have been used to test this theory in the past. The potential discovery of tauonium could provide valuable insights into the fundamental properties of matter at the atomic level.