All posts tagged: Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is being upgraded so that it can unlock the secrets of the Higgs boson

The Large Hadron Collider is being upgraded so that it can unlock the secrets of the Higgs boson

Published by skeptic

Deep beneath the French-Swiss border, the world’s largest scientific instrument has fallen silent. After years of smashing proton particles together at nearly the speed of light, Cern’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has stopped operations and entered a long shutdown. While no particle collisions are taking place at the LHC, thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians are dismantling parts of the machine, installing new technologies and preparing one of the most ambitious upgrades ever attempted in experimental physics. When it switches on again, around 2030, it will become the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), capable of delivering roughly seven times more data than the collider that discovered the Higgs boson. For me, this shutdown marks another milestone in a project that has shaped much of my scientific life. I first became involved in the High-Luminosity collider long before the Higgs boson particle was discovered in 2012. Over nearly two decades I have had the privilege of contributing to the programme on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, I served as upgrade coordinator for …

Farewell, atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider

Farewell, atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. It’s difficult to overstate just how much the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has helped advance our understanding of the universe. Since its debut in 2008, the 16.7-mile-wide subatomic smasher buried underneath Switzerland proved the existence of the Higgs boson particle (aka the God particle), highlighted the perplexing nature of muons, and even measured antimatter. Apocalyptic conspiracy theories to the contrary, it expanded on key concepts in quantum physics, while charting a path forward for researchers around the world. Still, all good things must come to an end. On June 29, CERN announced that the LHC had officially entered “Long Shutdown 3,” thus ceasing operations after 18 years of remarkable work. But in keeping with some of the most mindbending quantum physics concepts, the …

Large Hadron Collider enters Long Shutdown 3 to prepare for next era of particle physics

Large Hadron Collider enters Long Shutdown 3 to prepare for next era of particle physics

Published by skeptic

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has completed its latest physics run and officially entered Long Shutdown 3 (LS3), marking the beginning of the most extensive upgrade programme undertaken at CERN since the collider was originally built. The shutdown will focus on maintaining, modernising and expanding CERN’s accelerator complex in preparation for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HiLumi LHC), which is scheduled to begin operations in 2030. The upgraded machine is expected to deliver significantly higher collision rates, allowing scientists to gather much larger datasets and perform more precise investigations into the fundamental structure of the Universe. Although particle beams have now stopped circulating, scientific research at CERN will continue throughout Long Shutdown 3, with thousands of researchers analysing existing experimental data while engineers and technicians transform the accelerator and its detectors for the next generation of discoveries. A remarkable legacy for the Large Hadron Collider Since first circulating proton beams in September 2008, the Large Hadron Collider has established itself as the world’s most powerful particle accelerator and one of the most sophisticated scientific instruments …

CERN backs Future Circular Collider in new European Strategy for Particle Physics

CERN backs Future Circular Collider in new European Strategy for Particle Physics

Published by skeptic

Europe’s particle physics community has agreed on a new long-term roadmap that places CERN’s proposed Future Circular Collider at the centre of the continent’s scientific ambitions. The updated European Strategy for Particle Physics, adopted by the CERN Council after more than two years of consultation and review, outlines how Europe plans to maintain its leadership in high-energy physics beyond the lifetime of the Large Hadron Collider. The strategy update follows input from hundreds of researchers, institutions and international partners. More than 260 written submissions were reviewed before recommendations were delivered to the CERN Council in late 2025. The final framework prioritises continued operation and upgrades of the Large Hadron Collider while endorsing the electron-positron Future Circular Collider, known as FCC-ee, as CERN’s preferred next flagship project. If approved later this decade, the FCC-ee would become one of the largest scientific infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Europe. CERN management has now been tasked with developing funding discussions with member states, the European Union and international partners ahead of a potential decision by 2028. Council President Costas …

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 …