science βοΈ Proton's secret might be a gluon junction
New measurements suggest a proton's baryon number might not live only in its three quarks. Researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory's RHIC used the STAR detector for this investigation. The findings came from analyzing various high-energy collisions conducted over the last 25 years. This challenges the standard model by proposing a hidden Y-shaped gluon structure carries this fundamental quantum property. Future work will continue to probe these complex interactions to settle the mystery. π§