Scientists announced the discovery of a new heavy, proton-like particle in experiments with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle accelerator, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) on Tuesday.

The achievement was led by Professor He Jibo and his research team from the School of Physical Sciences at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The particle, similar to a proton but four times heavier, could shed light on the unusual behaviors of quantum mechanics.

All the matter around us, including the protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus of atoms, is made of baryons. These common particles are composed of three quarks, the fundamental building blocks of matter.

Quarks come in six types (also known as flavors): up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom, each with distinct masses, charges, and quantum properties. While many combinations of quarks could form baryons, most are extremely difficult to observe.

To detect them, the LHC sends particles whizzing around an underground ring at phenomenal speeds until they smash into each other.

This gives scientists a brief chance to measure how the more stable elements decay, then deduce the properties of the original particle.

The newly discovered particle contains two charm quarks and one down quark. Normal protons have two up quarks and one down quark. The heavier charm quarks give the new particle a much greater mass.

Vincenzo Vagnoni, spokesperson for the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment, said it was "only the second time a baryon with two heavy quarks has been observed," and "the first new particle identified after the upgrades to the LHCb detector that were completed in 2023."

In 2017, the LHCb experiment reported a similar particle containing two charm quarks and one up quark. The new particle has an expected lifetime six times shorter than the earlier one, making it far trickier to spot, according to CERN.

The LHC is a 27-kilometer-long proton-smashing ring running about 100 meters below France and Switzerland. Most famously, it proved the existence of the Higgs boson, known as the "God particle," in 2012.

The latest discovery comes as CERN plans to build an even bigger particle smasher, the Future Circular Collider, to continue probing the mysteries of the universe.

The discovery not only enhances understanding of the strong interaction and the quark model, but also paves the way for uncovering more exotic particles and exploring the deeper structure of matter.

(With input from agencies)