Theoretical quark fusion found to be more powerful than hydrogen fusion (phys.org)

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A  pair of researchers with Tel Aviv University and the University of  Chicago has found evidence suggesting that fusing quarks can release  much more energy than anyone thought. In their paper published in the  journal Nature, Marek Karliner and Jonathan Rosner describe their  theories surrounding the amount of energy involved when various types  of quarks are fused together.                                 
  
 To learn more about subatomic particles,  researchers at the Large Hadron Collider cause atoms to move at high  speeds and then smash them into one another. Doing so forces the  component parts of the atoms to be disassociated from one another  allowing each to be studied. Those components, scientists have found,  are called quarks. Prior research has also shown that when atoms in the  collider smash into each other, sometimes the pieces that come apart  collide with other parts, fusing them into particles called baryons.  Prior work has suggested that energy is involved when quarks fuse  together. In studying the properties of one such fusing, a  doubly-charmed baryon, the researchers found that it took 130 MeV to  force the quarks into such a particular configuration, but they also  found that fusing the quarks together wound up releasing 12 MeV more  than that. Intrigued by their finding, they quickly focused on bottom  quarks, which are much heavier—calculations showed it took 230 MeV to  fuse such quarks, but doing so resulted in a net release of  approximately 138 MeV, which the team calculated was approximately eight  times more than the amount released during hydrogen fusion.  Since hydrogen fusion  lies at the heart of hydrogen bombs, the researchers were quite  naturally alarmed at their findings. So much so that they considered not  publishing their results. But subsequent calculations showed that it  would be impossible to cause a chain reaction with quarks because they  exist for too short a period of time—approximately one picosecond—not  long enough to set off another baryon. They decay into much smaller,  less dangerous lighter quarks. The researchers point out that their work is still purely  theoretical. They have not tried to fuse bottom quarks, though they note  it should be technically feasible at the LHC should others find doing  so a worthwhile experiment.
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