New Clue to World's Tiniest Particles: "The proton, one of the three main components of an atom, is known to consist of point-like particles called quarks, bound together by gluons. There are six different types of quarks and the most mysterious of these is the strange quark, which 'boils up' inside the proton and then 'simmers back out of existence'.

The new finding, published recently in the prestigious international journal Physical Review Letters, is a precise calculation of the strange quark's distribution within the proton. The calculation predicts that the short-lived strange quarks display an unanticipated level of symmetry in their journey.

'Technically the strange quark contribution to the proton's charge distribution has proven elusive,' said Dr Leinweber, who is Deputy Director of the University’s Special Research Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter. 'At the University of Adelaide, working with physicists at the University of Edinburgh and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in the US, we've been able to calculate the strange contribution with unprecedented accuracy by applying a unique combination of cutting-edge numerical and analytical approaches. "