Large Hadron Collider detectors began recording high-energy collisions with unprecedented 13.6 TeV energy.
The Large Hadron Collider once again offers proton collisions in experiments, this time with an unprecedented energy of 13.6 TeV, marking the start of the third series of accelerator data for physics. .
A burst of applause erupted at the CERN Control Center on July 5, 2022, at 4:47 p.m. CEST, when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) detectors ignited all subsystems and began recording. high-energy collisions with unprecedented 13.6 TeV energy, resulting in entry. a new season of physics. This achievement was made possible by operators who had worked all day since the LHC’s restart in April to ensure the smooth start of these collisions with higher-intensity beams and increased energy.
After more than three years of upgrade and maintenance work, the LHC will now operate for nearly four years at a record 13.6 trillion electron (TeV) energy, providing greater accuracy and discovery potential. Many factors point to a promising physics season that will further expand the LHC’s already diverse physics program: increased collision rates, higher collision energy, improved reading systems and data selection, improved detector systems and computer infrastructure.
Celebrations at the CERN Control Center (CCC) to mark the start of the LHC Run 3. Credit: CERN)
A new data-taking period began on Tuesday, July 5 for experiments on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, after more than three years of upgrade and maintenance work. The beams have been circulating in the CERN accelerator complex since April, with the LHC machine and its injectors being re-commissioned to operate with new beams of greater intensity and increased energy. However, now LHC operators have announced “stable beams,” the condition that allows experiments to ignite all of their subsystems and begin taking the data that will be used for physics analysis. The LHC will operate for nearly four years with a record energy of 13.6 trillion electron volts (TeV), providing more accuracy and discovery potential than ever before.
“We will focus the proton beams at the interaction points at a beam size of less than 10 microns, to increase the collision rate. Compared to test 1, in which the Higgs was discovered with 12 reverse femtobarns, now in test 3 we will offer 280 reverse femtobarns. This is a significant increase, which paves the way for new discoveries, “says Accelerator and Technology Director Mike Lamont.
3D cut of the dipole of the Large Hadron Collider. Credit: CERN)
The LHC’s four major experiments have made major upgrades to its data selection and reading systems, with new detector systems and computer infrastructure. The changes will allow them to collect significantly larger data samples, with higher quality data than in previous runs. ATLAS and CMS detectors expect to record more collisions during test 3 than in the previous two tests combined. The LHCb experiment underwent a complete overhaul and aims to increase its data capture rate by a factor of ten, while ALICE aims for a staggering fifty-fold increase in the number of collisions recorded.
With the increase in data samples and increased collision energy, Run 3 will further expand the LHC’s already very diverse physics program. Experimental scientists will investigate the nature of the Higgs boson with unprecedented accuracy and in new channels. They can observe previously inaccessible processes and will be able to improve the measurement accuracy of numerous known processes by addressing fundamental issues, such as the origin of matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. Scientists will study the properties of matter at extreme temperatures and densities, and will also look for candidates for dark matter and other new phenomena, either through direct searches or, indirectly, through precise measurements of known particle properties.
“We are looking forward to measuring the disintegration of the Higgs boson into second-generation particles such as muons. This would be a completely new result in the Higgs boson saga, confirming for the first time that second-generation particles also gain mass through the mechanism. of Higgs, “says CERN theorist Michelangelo Mangano.
“We will measure the strengths of Higgs boson interactions with matter and force particles with unprecedented accuracy, and continue our search for Higgs boson decays to dark matter particles, as well as the search for additional Higgs bosons. “says Andreas Hoecker, spokesman for the ATLAS collaboration. “It is not at all clear whether the Higgs mechanism performed in nature is the minimum that includes only one Higgs particle.”
A closely monitored topic will be the studies of a class of rare processes in which the LHCb experiment studied an unexpected difference (asymmetry of lepton flavor) between electrons and their cousin particles, muons, in execution data. previous LHC. “The data acquired during run 3 with our new detector will allow us to improve accuracy by a factor of two and confirm or rule out possible deviations from the universality of lepton flavor,” says Chris Parkes, spokesman for the LHCb collaboration . Theories that explain the anomalies observed by LHCb also predict new effects in different processes. These will be the goal of specific studies conducted by ATLAS and CMS. “This complementary approach is essential; if we are able to confirm new effects in this way, it will be an important discovery in particle physics, ”says Luca Malgeri, spokesman for the CMS collaboration.
The heavy-ion collision program will investigate quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of matter that existed in the first 10 microseconds after the Big Bang, with unprecedented accuracy. “We hope to move from a phase in which we observed many interesting properties of quark-gluon plasma to a phase in which we accurately quantify these properties and connect them to the dynamics of their components,” says ALICE spokesman Luciano Musa . collaboration. In addition to the main lead and lead runs, a short period with oxygen collisions will be included for the first time, with the aim of exploring the occurrence of QGP-like effects in small colitis systems. injury.
The smallest experiments at the LHC: TOTEM, LHCf, MoEDAL, with its brand new MAPP subdetector, and the FASER and the newly installed one. [email protected] – are also ready to explore phenomena within and beyond the standard model, from magnetic monopolies to neutrinos and cosmic rays.