Omega minus—theory and fact

A theory for strongly interacting particles has been given strong support by an experiment resulting in the discovery of a new particle whose properties had been accurately predicted by the theory. The new particle, the omega minus, is a hyperon of mass $1686±12 MeV/c2,$charge −1, and is the only known particle with strangeness −3. The experiment, reported in the February 24 issue of Physical Review Letters, was done with the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron and eighty‐inch bubble chamber, by a team of thirty‐three physicists, headed by Ralph Shutt, with Nicholas P. Samios in direct charge of the experiment. The theory, independently developed by Murray Gell‐Mann of California Institute of Technology and Yuval Ne'eman of Tel Aviv University, is known as the eightfold way because it requires the conservation of eight quantities.