Anomalous - traces of quarks in atomic nuclei

When observing high-energy collisions of cosmic-ray particles with silver atoms, a mysterious phenomenon has been noticed 27 years ago. At first, these were disregarded because of their non-reproducibility; but thorough studies with heavy-ion accelerators have shown that a regularly occurring phenomenon is involved, which contradicts all the concepts of classical nuclear physics. The causes are still not clear. The 'anomalons' might be an effect of quarks - which would be the first one found on the level of atomic nuclei - or a pulsation of the nuclear matter. Physicists in Marburg, West Germany are trying to clarify this phenomenon, together with colleagues in the U.S.A. and in Canada. (orig.)