Quadronium

The conjecture is advanced that a certain state of the isolated (e+e+e-e-) 'Quadronium' system is strongly bound (B ∼ 1 MeV). This conjecture leads to the expectation that in the presence of a Coulomb field of increasing charge, Z, the ground state of Quadronium may, by becoming more polarized, increase its binding energy until at some critical value, ZQ, its binding energy exceeds the total rest mass of its constituents, so that its total energy is less than zero. Then in the presence of an isolated charge of Z > ZQ, such a polarized Quadronium atom will be created spontaneously out of the vacuum. Subsequent depolarization, as the nuclei separate, will populate the discrete and continuous excited state spectrum of Quadronium, leading to both sharp and continuous e+e- emissions. In this way the Quadronium conjecture promises to explain all of the main qualitative features of the e+e- emissions observed in high-Z heavy ion collisions. (author)