The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has done just that launched a new experiment focused on collisions of heavy ions instead of the usual protons.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) shared details of this groundbreaking research, which started at 11:13 am on November 6 and will last approximately three weeks.
This experiment aims to generate vast amounts of data that physicists can analyze, hoping to reveal insights into the earliest moments of the universe. Unlike typical experiments with protons, this time scientists observe collisions of lead ions, which contain 208 nucleons (82 protons and 126 neutrons).
These ions are accelerated to energies of 5.36 TeV per nucleon pair, creating conditions similar to those experienced just after the Big Bang.
Preparation for this experiment included significant equipment upgrades. For example, the data collection rate of the CMS detector was increased from 20 to 30 gigabytes per second, and the ATLAS detector was made more sensitive to detecting ultra-peripheral collisions – when heavy ions pass nearby without colliding head-on.
The ALICE detector, specifically designed for heavy ion measurements, was also improved to collect twice as much data as previous experiments could.
According to ALICE spokesperson Marco van Leeuwen, scientists are “looking forward to the large data collection from this experiment,” as this should enable the first direct measurement of the temperature of the quark-gluon plasma and allow an accurate study of its properties have to make.
Quark-gluon plasma is a unique, high-energy state of matter that existed in the very early universe, just a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. In this state, protons and neutrons disintegrate into a “primordial soup” of their fundamental components: quarks and gluons.
By simulating this plasma through collisions between heavy ions, scientists hope to understand the behavior of matter under extreme conditions similar to those that shaped the early universe.
