The ‘Total, elastic and diffractive cross-section measurement’ experiment studies particles thrust forward by collisions in the LHC When protons meet head-on at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the collisions provide a micro-laboratory to investigate many phenomena, including the protons themselves. This is the physics that the TOTEM experiment is designed to explore, by taking precise measurements of protons as […]
The study of light antinuclei – from creation to annihilation – will bolster future indirect dark matter searches This media update is part of a series related to the 2020 Large Hadron Collider Physics conference, taking place from 25 to 30 May 2020. Originally planned to take place in Paris, the conference is being held entirely
Fresh antimatter study by ALICE collaboration will help with the search for dark matter Read More »
A combination of theoretical calculations and information from astronomical observations indicates that massive neutron stars can contain cores filled with free quarks Artist’s impression of a neutron star’s interior. The deeper the layer, the denser it is. (Image: Jyrki Hokkanen, CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd., Finland) Dive into the interior of neutron stars and
Neutron stars show their cores Read More »
Why is gravity so much weaker than the other fundamental forces? A small fridge magnet is enough to create an electromagnetic force greater than the gravitational pull exerted by planet Earth. One possibility is that we don’t feel the full effect of gravity because part of it spreads to extra dimensions. Though it may sound
Extra dimensions, gravitons, and tiny black holes Read More »
CERN physicists collide heavy ions to free quarks – recreating conditions that existed in the universe just after the Big Bang or a few millionths of a second, shortly after the Big Bang, the universe was filled with an astonishingly hot, dense soup made of all kinds of particles moving at near light speed. This
Heavy ions and quark-gluon plasma Read More »
Cosmic-ray data collected by the AMS detector on the International Space Station again challenge conventional theory of cosmic-ray origin and propagation Ever since astronauts attached the 7.5 tonne AMS detector to the International Space Station in May 2011, the space-based magnetic spectrometer, which was assembled at CERN, has collected data on more than 150 billion cosmic rays
Cosmic rays throw up surprises, again Read More »
The Antiproton Decelerator (AD) is a unique machine that produces low-energy antiprotons for studies of antimatter, and “creates” antiatoms. The Decelerator produces antiproton beams and sends them to the different experiments. A proton beam that comes from the PS (Proton Synchrotron) is fired into a block of metal. These collisions create a multitude of secondary
The Antiproton Decelerator Read More »
The lab’s suite of experiments to study the subtle, elusive particle called the neutrino will aid humanity’s understanding of the origin of matter, the unification of forces and the Big Bang. Before being detected, neutrinos from Fermilab experiments travel over short distances — several hundred meters — and over long distances — several hundred miles.
“From a cavern 100 metres below a small Swiss village, the 7000-tonne ATLAS detector is probing for fundamental particles“ ATLAS is one of two general-purpose detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It investigates a wide range of physics, from the search for the Higgs boson to extra dimensions and particles that could make up dark matter. Although it has the same scientific
To accelerate particles, the accelerators are fitted with metallic chambers containing an electromagnetic field known as radiofrequency (RF) cavities. Charged particles injected into this field receive an electrical impulse that accelerates them. In the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), 16 RF cavities are housed in four cylindrical refrigerators called cryomodules, which enable them to work in a
Accelerating: Radiofrequency Cavities Read More »
