“All science is either physics or stamp collecting.” -Ernest Rutherford
Is this stamp collecting? Do these exotic hadrons mean anything?
replies(4):
Given their horribly short lifespans, probably not much other than the fact that they manage to exist for however short a time might vindicate QFT a tad more (I'm assuming that QFT somewhat predicts their likelihood to show up).
Or maybe they'll bring a deeper understanding of the strong force.
But generally speaking, I feel you: lots of work and energy spent to create these exotic things, but that may or may not have an actual use or even meaning.
A lot of science is like this these days, it looks like we're hitting exponentially diminishing returns (as in: useful applications) in some areas of science.