When particles decay into photons, they release energy equivalent to their mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. The measurements saw photons with a combined energy of 750 GeV, about six times heavier than the Higgs boson, something that has not been predicted by the current theory describing particle physics

The Standard Model claims everything in the universe is made from the most basic building blocks called fundamental particles, that are governed by four forces: gravity, electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear.

The forces work over different ranges and have different strengths.

This new particle, if it exists, would not fit into the description given by the Standard Model and so would lead to a whole new area of particle physics for them to explore.

Some have suggested it might even lead to the discovery of a fifth fundamental force.

'This is possible, but there must at least be a set of unknown particles to explain how this new particle decays, and probably how it is produced,' said Ellis.

This development is exciting because the Standard Model has left some questions unanswered for years, so scientists are keen to break free of it and find new theories.

It can't explain gravity, for example, because it is incompatible with our best explanation of how gravity works - general relativity, nor does it explain dark matter particles.

The quantum theory used to describe the small particles in the world, and the general theory of relativity used to describe the larger objects world, are also difficult to reconcile.

Nobody has managed to make the two mathematically compatible in the context of the Standard Model.

According to the Big Bang theory, matter and antimatter were created in equal amounts at the start of the universe and so they should have annihilated each other totally in the first second or so of the universe's existence.

This means the cosmos should be full of light and little else.

But because it isn't there must have been a subtle difference in the physics of matter and anti-matter that has left the universe with a surplus of matter and that makes up the stars we see, the planet we live on and ourselves.

The detectors saw photons with a combined energy of 750 GeV. When particles decay into photons they release energy equivalent to their mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. This means the particle that decayed into them would have been about six times heavier than the Higgs boson

But the observations seen so far are not enough to confirm the existence of a particle.

The CERN physicists need to make sure the observations were not just down to chance, so it comes down to collecting much more data and waiting to see if the particle is spotted again.

Some remain unconvinced.

'Indeed, I don't see yet statistically convincing bumps that would point to the existence of a new particle in the LHC data,' Professor Patrick Janot, working on the CMS detector at CERN told MailOnline.

The LHC will start making more collisions next month, and the results that might confirm or refute the existence of this particle will be available by summer.

'You will hear solid statements in summer,' said Janot, 'when a lot more data than in 2015 are accumulated at 13 TeV.'