AMONG some fifty counter-controlled cloud-chamber photographs of penetrating showers which we have obtained during the past year as part of an investigation of the nature of penetrating particles occurring in cosmic ray showers under lead, there are two photographs containing forked tracks of a very striking character. These photographs have been selected from five thousand photographs taken in an effective time of operation of 1,500 hours. On the basis of the analysis given below we believe that one of the fonked tracks, shown in Fig. 1 (tracks a and b), represents the spontaneous transformation in the gas of the chamber of a new type of uncharged elementary particle into lighter charged particles, and that the other, shown in Fig. 2 (tracks a and b), represents similarly the transformation of a new type of charged particle into two light particles, one of which is charged and the other uncharged.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Lattes, C. M. G., Occhialini, G. P. S., and Powell, C. F., Nature, 160, 453, 486 (1947).
Leprince-Ringuet, L., and L'héritier, M., J. Phys. Radium. (Sér. 8), 7, 66, 69 (1946). Bethe, H. A., Phys. Rev., 70, 821 (1946).
Jánossy, L., Rochester, G. D., and Broadbent, D., Nature, 155, 142 (1945). (Fig. 2. Track at lower left-hand side of the photograph.)
Daudin, J., Annales de Physique, 11e Série, 19 (Avril-Juin), 1944 (Planche IV, Cliché 16).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ROCHESTERDr., G., BUTLERDr., C. Evidence for the Existence of New Unstable Elementary Particles. Nature 160, 855–857 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160855a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160855a0
This article is cited by
-
How a forgotten physicist’s discovery broke the symmetry of the Universe
Nature (2024)
-
Selected Science Opportunities for the EicC
Few-Body Systems (2020)
-
Detection of a strange particle
Nature (2019)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.