All posts tagged: Collider

Future Circular Collider public consultations begin across Switzerland and France

Future Circular Collider public consultations begin across Switzerland and France

Published by skeptic

The public consultation phase for CERN’s proposed Future Circular Collider project has begun in Switzerland and France, marking a major step in the long-running evaluation of what could become the world’s largest particle physics facility. The consultations will run between May and October 2026 and are intended to gather public feedback before any final approval decision is made. CERN confirmed that the Future Circular Collider remains under study, with a formal decision on whether to proceed not expected before 2028. The project is currently being assessed as part of the wider update to the European Strategy for Particle Physics, which guides the continent’s long-term research priorities. If approved, the Future Circular Collider would be built in a 91-kilometre underground tunnel beneath parts of eastern France and western Switzerland. Scientists say the machine could unlock new insights into the structure of matter and the origins of the Universe, while also driving advances in engineering, computing and energy technologies. What is the Future Circular Collider? The proposed Future Circular Collider, often referred to as the FCC, would …

Our Large Hadron Collider results hint at undiscovered physics

Our Large Hadron Collider results hint at undiscovered physics

Published by skeptic

Recent findings from research we have been carrying out at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern in Geneva suggest that we might be closing in on signs of undiscovered physics. If confirmed, these hints would overturn the theory, called the Standard Model, that has dominated particle physics for 50 years. The findings suggest the way that specific sub-atomic particles behave in the LHC disagrees with the Standard Model. Fundamental particles are the most basic building blocks of matter – sub-atomic particles that cannot be divided into smaller units. The four fundamental forces – gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force and the strong force – govern how these particles interact. The LHC is a giant particle accelerator built in a 27km-long circular tunnel under the French-Swiss border. Its main purpose is to find cracks in the Standard Model. This theory is our best understanding of fundamental particles and forces, but we know it cannot be the whole story. It does not explain gravity or dark matter – the invisible, so far unmeasured type of matter that …

A once-fantastical collider could answer physics’ biggest mysteries

A once-fantastical collider could answer physics’ biggest mysteries

Published by skeptic

When it comes to particle physics, Tova Holmes has been there, done that and got the T-shirt – in fact, she designed the T-shirt herself. It all started back in 2022, when she and a few colleagues arrived at a meeting of particle physicists determined to make the case for developing an entirely new kind of particle-smashing machine. They did so by sporting tops emblazoned with a motif representing a circular particle accelerator and a single word: BUILD. “We wanted to find a way for people to visibly show how excited they were about a muon collider,” says Holmes, who is based at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. To its advocates, this newfangled collider would be exactly the shot in the arm that particle physics so desperately needs. The famous Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, wonderful as it is, simply hasn’t delivered any truly new discoveries in years. The answer, say Holmes and her ilk, isn’t to build ever-more powerful successors to the LHC, as some would …

Large Hadron Collider Discovers All-New Particle

Large Hadron Collider Discovers All-New Particle

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech In particle physics, atoms are the building blocks of matter in the universe, each consisting of a nucleus, protons, neutrons, and electrons. Scientists have increasingly peered even further into these building blocks, examining the peculiar world of particles that are even smaller than individual atoms. According to the quark model, multiple subatomic particles called quarks can form hadrons held together by strong nuclear forces. Each of these quarks can come in three pairs of “flavors” — up and down, charm and strange, and top and bottom — that determine their mass and charge. Now, scientists have used CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland, to uncover what they say is an entirely new type of particle, dubbed Xi-cc-plus, that consists of two charm quarks and one down quark. That makes it not unlike a proton, albeit with two heavy charm quarks replacing its two up quarks. Put simply, the LHC uses copious amounts of energy to fire …

CERN detects new particle at Large Hadron Collider

CERN detects new particle at Large Hadron Collider

Published by skeptic

Physicists at CERN have reported the observation of a previously unknown new particle, detected during experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The finding, presented at the Moriond conference, marks a significant addition to the growing catalogue of exotic hadrons and provides a new test case for theories describing the strong nuclear force. The particle is classified as a baryon and has a structure broadly comparable to a proton. However, unlike the familiar proton, which consists of two up quarks and one down quark, this newly identified state contains two heavier charm quarks alongside a single down quark. The substitution of lighter quarks with heavier charm quarks results in a particle with roughly four times the proton’s mass. A rare proton-like particle This proton-like particle belongs to a category of matter known as hadrons, composite particles made of quarks bound together by the strong force. Quarks exist in six types – up, down, charm, strange, top and bottom – and combine in specific configurations to form baryons (three quarks) or mesons (quark–antiquark pairs). While protons …

The Large Hadron Collider Is Being Shut Down

The Large Hadron Collider Is Being Shut Down

Published by José Betancourt

SWITZERLAND – JANUARY 25: The Large Hadron Collider, Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a particle accelerator which will probe deeper into matter than ever – This is the next step of CERN – The workers positioned one of the CMS magnet – The CMS is the largest superconducting solenoid magnet of the world has reached full field – Weighing over 10,000 tons, the magnet of the CMS Collaboration is built around a superconducting solenoid 6 meters in diameter and 13 meters in length – It produces a field of 4 Tesla, almost 100 000 times higher than that of the Earth, and stores an energy of 2.5 GJ, sufficient to melt 18 tons of gold in Geneve, Switzerland on January 25th, 2007. (Photo by Lionel FLUSIN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) The Large Hadron Collider is going to be shut down — not permanently, but for a pretty long time — and the famous atom smasher’s eventual final retirement is also something that top scientists are now considering. A 16-mile ring-shaped tunnel near the Swiss-French border, the …