The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is about to begin breaking protons together at unprecedented energy levels in its quest to reveal more secrets about how the universe works.
The world’s largest and most powerful particle collider resumed in April after a three-year hiatus for upgrades in preparation for its third run, which will continue for nearly four years.
Fans of the hit Netflix show Stranger Things have let their imaginations run wild, speculating that the LHC could open a portal to another nightmare dimension.
Here’s what you need to know.
What’s going on in the Hadron Collider?
After planned maintenance and upgrades, the LHC was restarted in April and is now at full speed, meaning proton collisions can occur again.
A new data-taking period will begin on Tuesday, during which the LHC will operate for nearly four years with record energy, providing greater accuracy and discovery potential than ever before.
During the experiments, scientists will study the nature of the Higgs boson, discovered by the LHC ten years ago, with unprecedented accuracy and in new channels.
Known as the “particle of God,” it gives mass to matter and holds together the physical fabric of the universe.
The progress made since then in determining its properties has allowed physicists to make great strides forward in our understanding of the universe.
Researchers have been able to measure the mass of the Higgs boson, which is a fundamental constant in nature that the standard model does not predict.
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In addition, along with the known heaviest elementary particle mass, upper quark, and other parameters, the mass of the Higgs boson can determine the vacuum stability of the universe.
Researchers will also study the properties of matter at extreme temperatures and densities, and look for candidates for dark matter and other new phenomena.
Andreas Hoecker, spokesman for the Atlas collaboration, said: “We will measure the strengths of the interactions of the Higgs boson with matter and force the particles with unprecedented accuracy, and we will continue our search for disintegrations of the Higgs boson. Higgs to dark matter particles, as well as searches for additional Higgs bosons “.
Stranger Things link?
Stranger Things fans have taken the opportunity to speculate on whether the LHC reboot could result in the show’s premise.
Set in the fictional city of Hawkins, Indiana, in the 80s, the series introduced us to a group of young boys: Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Will (Noah Schnapp).
Soon, they discover Upside Down, an underground world of other dimensions full of monsters.
When a gate between Upside Down and Hawkins allows the Demogorgon assassin to travel between kingdoms, it was up to the gang and their new friend Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) to save Will from his clutches and lock him out of the real world forever. .
The long-awaited fourth series premiered in late May with critical acclaim.
While fans’ excitement for the LHC’s potential is understandable, CERN is not trying to access alternative worlds. His focus remains the Higgs boson.