The world’s largest particle accelerator The Large Hadron Collider (Large Hadron Collider – LHC), has been reactivated after three years of maintenance. The giant device, located in Switzerland near the French border, is part of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) and was responsible for the discovery of the Higgs boson particle, one of the greatest milestones in quantum physics.

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This Tuesday (05) the researchers collected data from accelerated beams for the first time since maintenance began. The LHC brings together about 12,000 scientists who are exploring the Universe in search of new subatomic particles. According to a BBC report, the LHC has been upgraded to expand its data collection capabilities with the intention of revealing more details about the dark matter that makes up the universe.

The accelerator began to be launched at the end of April 2022. At that time, proton beams circulated at very low energy levels and were gradually accelerated to ensure the safety of the process. It took nearly two months of procedures to reach the first collection of new data on Tuesday. Rodri Jones, Head of Beams at CERN, says the work being done at the LHC will allow as much data to be collected in the next three years as has been collected in a decade. “There’s also the possibility that after increasing the energy of the LHC and observing more of these collisions, we will eventually discover something completely new.”.

LHC work

The Large Hadron Collider uses superconducting magnets to accelerate beams of protons and other particles to near-light speeds in circular tubes 27 kilometers long. After a collision between particles, collision data is collected. Electronics, magnets, injectors, detectors and data acquisition tools have been upgraded during maintenance.

Thanks to updates, scientists keep track of new discoveries that go beyond the study of dark matter. Sam Harper, a physicist at CERN, believes that we may be close to a new discovery, even greater than the discovery of the Higgs boson, he says there is a chance that the LHC can confirm the existence of the fifth force of nature, joining the existence of gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear interactions.

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Source: Wall Street Journal, CERN.