document: in ref .  @xcite an @xmath7 conformally symmetric model was proposed for strong interactions at low energies , based on the observation , published in 1919 by h.  weyl in ref . 
   @xcite , that the dynamical equations of gauge theories retain their flat - space - time form when subject to a conformally - flat metrical field , instead of the usual minkowski background . 
   confinement of quarks and gluons is then described through the introduction of two scalar fields which spontaneously break the @xmath7 symmetry down to @xmath8 and @xmath9 symmetry , respectively . moreover , 
   a symmetric second - order tensor field is defined that serves as the metric for flat space - time , coupling to electromagnetism . 
   quarks and gluons , which to lowest order do not couple to this tensor field , are confined to an anti - de - sitter ( ads ) universe @xcite , having a finite radius in the flat space - time . 
   this way , the model describes quarks and gluons that oscillate with a universal frequency , independent of the flavor mass , inside a closed universe , as well as photons which freely travel through flat space - time .    the fields in the model of ref . 
   @xcite comprise one real scalar field @xmath10 and one complex scalar field @xmath11 . 
   their dynamical equations were solved in ref . 
   @xcite for the case that the respective vacuum expectation values , given by @xmath12 and @xmath13 , satisfy the relation @xmath14 a solution for @xmath12 of particular interest leads to ads confinement , via the associated conformally flat metric given by @xmath15 .    the only quadratic term in the lagrangian of ref .  @xcite is proportional to @xmath16 hence , under the condition of relation ( [ slvacua ] ) , one obtains , after choosing vacuum expectation values , a light @xmath10 field , associated with confinement , and a very heavy complex @xmath11 field , associated with electromagnetism . 
   weak interactions were not contemplated in ref . 
   @xcite , but one may read electroweak for electromagnetism . here , we will study the  supposedly light  mass of the scalar field that gives rise to confinement .    the conformally symmetric model of ref . 
   @xcite in itself does not easily allow for interactions between hadrons , as each hadron is described by a closed universe . 
   hence , in order to compare the properties of this model with the actually measured cross sections and branching ratios , the model has been further simplified , such that only its main property survives , namely its flavor - independent oscillations . this way the full ads spectrum is , via light - quark - pair creation , coupled to the channels of two  or more  hadronic decay products for which scattering amplitudes can be measured . 
   the ads spectrum reveals itself through the structures observed in hadronic mass distributions . 
   however , as we have shown in the past ( see ref . 
   @xcite and references therein ) , there exists no simple relation between enhancements in the experimental cross sections and the ads spectrum . 
   it had been studied in parallel , for mesons , in a coupled - channel model in which quarks are confined by a flavor - independent harmonic oscillator @xcite . 
   empirically , based on numerous data on mesonic resonances measured by a large variety of experimental collaborations , it was found @xcite that an ads oscillation frequency of @xmath17 agrees well with the observed results for meson - meson scattering and meson - pair production in the light @xcite , heavy - light @xcite , and heavy @xcite flavor sectors , thus reinforcing the strategy proposed in ref . 
   @xcite . 
   another ingredient of the model for the description of non - exotic quarkonia , namely the coupling of quark - antiquark components to real and virtual two - meson decay channels @xcite via @xmath18 quark - pair creation , gives us a clue about the size of the mass of the @xmath10 field . 
   for such a coupling it was found that the average radius @xmath19 for light - quark - pair creation in quarkonia could be described by an flavor - independent mass scale , given by @xmath20 where @xmath21 is the effective reduced quarkonium mass . in earlier work , 
   the value @xmath22 @xcite was used , which results in @xmath23 mev for the corresponding mass scale . 
   however , the quarkonium spectrum is not very sensitive to the precise value of the radius @xmath19 , in contrast with the resonance widths . in more recent work @xcite , 
   slightly larger transition radii have been applied , corresponding to values around 40 mev for @xmath24 . 
   nevertheless , values of 3040 mev for the flavor - independent mass @xmath24 do not seem to bear any relation to an observed quantity for strong interactions . 
   however , we will next present experimental evidence for the possible existence of a quantum with a mass of about 38 mev , which in the light of its relation to the @xmath18 mechanism we suppose to mediate quark - pair creation . 
   moreover , its scalar properties make it a perfect candidate for the quantum associated with the above - discussed scalar field for confinement . 
   @xcite , we made notice of an apparent interference effect around the @xmath25 threshold in the invariant - mass distribution of @xmath26 events , which we observed in preliminary radiation data of the babar collaboration @xcite . 
   the effect , with a periodicity of about 74 mev , could be due to interference between the typical oscillation frequency of 190 mev of the @xmath27 pair and that of the gluon cloud .    [ cols="^ " , ] 
   thus , a signal with the shape of a narrow breit - wigner resonance seems to be visible on the slope of the @xmath28 resonance , though with little more than 2@xmath10 relevance . nevertheless , by coincidence or not , it comes out exactly in the expected place , namely at @xmath29 mev . 
   unfortunately , the data @xcite do not have enough statistics to pinpoint possible higher excitations as well . 
   so we can not relate , to a minimum degree of accuracy , the other observed deficit enhancements to the possible existence of hybrid states . 
   from the fact that the @xmath30 has not been observed before , one must conclude that it probably does not interact  at least to leading order  through electroweak forces , but instead couples exclusively to quarks and gluons . 
   the interference effect we discussed in sec . 
   [ oscillations ] might well be explained by @xmath30 exchange between the quarks , which interferes with the natural quark oscillations . moreover , since the interference effect is smaller for light quarks than for heavier ones , it is likely that their coupling to the @xmath30 is proportional to flavor mass , as one expects from theory . 
   the @xmath30 could very well be just a light scalar glueball , albeit much lighter than found in refs . 
   its low mass precludes decay into hadrons , while the absence of electroweak couplings does not allow it to decay into leptons either , at least to lowest order . 
   it may decay , though , into photons via virtual quark loops , and through photons , eventually , into @xmath0 pairs . 
   however , the probability for such reactions to occur is extremely remote , since the coupling between the quarks and the light scalar is proportional to the quark mass @xcite . in the case of bottom quarks , we found events of the order of or less than one percent of the total . for light quarks , 
   their mass ratio with respect to bottom quarks reduces this rate to @xmath31@xmath32 . 
   hadrons will certainly interact with a light scalar ball of glue . 
   for example , a proton struck by such a scalar particle may absorp it and then emit photons , or decay into a neutron and a lepton - neutrino pair . yet 
   another possibility is that , being closed universes themselves , these scalar particles mainly collide elastically with hadronic matter . in that case , depending on their linear momentum , they may remove light nuclei from atoms . 
   nevertheless , we do not see such processes happening around us 
   . therefore , these light scalars are probably not abundantly present near us . however , in the early universe they may have existed , most probably inflated to hadrons under collisions . on the other hand , interactions with hadrons might have been observed in bubble - chamber experiments , where isolated protons could be the result of collisions with a light scalar particle emerging from one of the interaction vertices . 
   light higgs fields have been considered in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model @xcite . 
   furthermore , axions , which appear in models motivated by astrophysical observations , are assumed to have higgs - like couplings @xcite . 
   model predictions for the branching fraction of @xmath33higgs decays , for higgs masses below @xmath34 @xcite , range from @xmath32 @xcite to @xmath35 @xcite . 
   furthermore , the three anomalous events observed in the hypercp experiment @xcite were interpreted as the production of a scalar boson with a mass of 214.3 mev , decaying into a pair of muons @xcite . however , in ref . 
   @xcite the babar collaboration found no evidence for dimuon decays of a light scalar particle in radiative decays of @xmath28 and @xmath36 mesons . 
   the babar limits for dimuon decays of a light scalar particle rule out much of the parameter space allowed by the light - higgs @xcite and axion @xcite models . nonetheless , in ref . 
   @xcite y .- j . 
   zhang and h .- s . 
   shao , pointed out that the transitions @xmath37higgs are not yet excluded by the lepton - universality test in @xmath38 decays studied by babar in refs . 
   @xcite . 
   the light scalar glueball we have discussed here seems to correspond to the lowest - order empty - universe solution of ref . 
   @xcite for strong interactions . 
   it has similar properties as the electroweak higgs , but now for strong interactions . 
   quarks couple to it with an intensity which is proportional to their mass , in the same way that mass couples to gravity @xcite . in the standard model @xcite , the higgs boson and the graviton are the only particles yet to be observed , and no higgs particle for strong interactions is anticipated . 
   however , n.  trnqvist recently proposed @xcite the light scalar - meson nonet @xcite as the higgs bosons of strong interactions , while in ref . 
   @xcite he obtained a nonzero pion mass by means of a small breaking of a relative symmetry between the electroweak and the strong interactions . 
   a relation between the lightest scalar - meson nonet and glueballs has often been advocated by p.  minkowski and w.  ochs ( see e.g.  ref . 
   @xcite ) . in our view 
   though , the light scalar mesons are dynamically generated through @xmath39 pair creation / annihilation , which mixes the quark - antiquark and dimeson sectors @xcite . 
   in sec .  [ intro ] 
   we discussed why we expect an additional scalar particle to exist , besides the higgs boson for the electroweak sector . 
   furthermore , we have estimated its mass based on the average radius for @xmath18 quark - pair creation , which had been extracted over the past three decades from numerous data on mesonic resonances ( see ref . 
   @xcite and references therein ) . in sec . 
   [ oscillations ] we recalled our results on an apparent interference effect in annihilation data , and stressed the possibility that it may stem from some internal oscillation with a frequency of about 38 mev . in sec . 
   [ phenomenon ] we showed that missing data in the reactions @xmath0 
   @xmath1 @xmath40 @xmath1 @xmath3 and @xmath0 @xmath1 @xmath40 @xmath1 @xmath4 exhibit maxima at @xmath24 , @xmath41 , and @xmath42 , for @xmath43 mev .    each of the results , viz.the interference effect observed in ref . 
   @xcite , the small flavor - independent oscillations in electron - positron and proton - antiproton annihilation data , observed in ref .  @xcite and summarized in fig . 
   [ interference ] , the excess signals visible in the @xmath5 mass distributions of @xmath28 @xmath1 @xmath40 @xmath1 @xmath4 ( fig .  [ mumuall2s ] ) , in @xmath36 @xmath1 @xmath40 @xmath1 @xmath4 ( fig .  [ alldiff]a ) , in @xmath36 @xmath1 @xmath44 @xmath1 @xmath4 ( fig .  [ alldiff]b ) , and in the @xmath0 mass distributions of @xmath0 @xmath1 @xmath3 ( fig . 
   [ alldiff]c ) , and finally the resonance signal shown in fig .  [ hybrid ] , is much too small to make firm claims . 
   however , we observe here that all points in the same direction . indeed 
   , the probability must be close to zero that one accidentally finds the same oscillations in four different sets of data ( refs . 
   @xcite ) involving different flavors , statistical fluctuations at @xmath45 mev in yet another four sets of different data ( figs .  [ mumuall2s ] and [ alldiff ] ) , and moreover a resonance - like fluctuation at @xmath46 mev in a further set of data ( fig .  [ hybrid ] ) . 
   furthermore , the related mass comes where predicted by our analyses in mesonic spectroscopy ( see ref . 
   @xcite and references therein ) .    in sec . 
   [ gluons ] we discussed that , most probably , the missing signal is due to the emission of an  as yet unobserved  light scalar particle , while part of the excess data corroborates such an interpretation . 
   since the corresponding particle has all the right properties , we conclude that we found first indications , of the possible existence of a higgs - like particle , namely the scalar boson related to confinement . 
   furthermore , the data also suggest the existence of two replicas of the @xmath30 with masses that are two and three times heavier than the @xmath30 . 
   in addition , we believe that this 38 mev boson , which we designate by @xmath30 , consists of a mini - universe filled with glue , thus forming a very light scalar glueball . furthermore , we have pinpointed the masses of possible @xmath6 hybrids , one of which shows up as an enhancement in the invariant - mass distribution of babar data , albeit with a 2@xmath10 significance at most . 
   finally , we urge the babar collaboration to inspect their larger data set in order to settle , with higher statistics , the possible existence of the @xmath30 and the related @xmath6 hybrid spectrum . 
   we are grateful for the precise measurements and data analyses of the babar , cdf , and cmd-2 collaborations , which made the present analysis possible . 
   one of us ( evb ) wishes to thank drs . 
   b.  hiller , a.  h.  blin , and a.  a.  osipov for useful discussions . 
   this work was supported in part by the _ fundao para a cincia e a tecnologia _ of the _ ministrio da cincia , tecnologia e ensino superior _ of portugal , under contract cern / fp/ 109307/2009 . 
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summary: we present evidence for the existence of a light scalar particle that most probably couples exclusively to gluons and quarks . 
   theoretical and phenomenological arguments are presented to support the existence of a light scalar boson for confinement and quark - pair creation . 
   previously observed interference effects allow to set a narrow window for the scalar s mass and also for its flavor - mass - dependent coupling to quarks . here , in order to find a direct signal indicating its production , we study published babar data on leptonic bottomonium decays , viz.the reactions @xmath0 
   @xmath1 @xmath2 @xmath1 @xmath3 ( and @xmath4 ) . 
   we observe a clear excess signal in the invariant - mass projections of @xmath0 and @xmath5 , which may be due to the emission of a so far unobserved scalar particle with a mass of about 38 mev . in the process of our analysis 
   , we also find an indication of the existence of a @xmath6 hybrid state at about 10.061 gev . 
   further signals could be interpreted as replicas with masses two and three times as large as the lightest scalar particle .