Large Hadron Collider Comes Back To Life After Three-year Hiatus

Home » When Does The Lhc Turn Back On » Large Hadron Collider Comes Back To Life After Three-year Hiatus

Maybe your like

The world's most powerful particle accelerator - the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - has sprung back to life after a three-year shutdown.

The LHC, in Switzerland, was switched off in December 2018 to let scientists and engineers from around the world make it even more powerful.

The accelerator, at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), accelerates subatomic particles to almost the speed of light, before smashing them into each other.

It consists of a 27km ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way.

The LHC consists of a 27km ring of superconducting magnets
Image: The LHC consists of a 27km ring of superconducting magnets

In 2012, the LHC confirmed the discovery of the Higgs boson particle, which along with an associated force field, allowed researchers to better understand where matter gets its mass from.

After planned maintenance and upgrades, the LHC will shortly start another run of cutting-edge physics experiments.

On Friday, particles were pushed through the colliders ring for the first time since December 2018.

More on Switzerland

  • Jacques and Jessica Moretti, the couple who ran the Swiss bar which burst into flames during a New Year's Eve party, arrive for questioning

    Swiss bar owners detained as investigation into deadly New Year fire continues

  • Bar ceiling ignites in Le Constellation.

    Sparkler candles banned by Swiss mayor after New Year's bar fire killed 40

  • A woman lights a candle at a memorial outside the Le Constellation bar. Pic: Reuters

    All 116 people injured in deadly New Year's bar fire identified, Swiss police say

Related Topics:

  • Switzerland

But it will take six to eight weeks for the LHC to get up to full speed, where proton collisions can take place again.

Head of CERN's Beams department, Rhodri Jones, said: "These beams circulated at injection energy and contained a relatively small number of protons".

Read more: CERN plans for collider to find 'God particles'

He added that high-intensity and high-energy collisions are a couple of months away but the first beams represent the "successful restart of the accelerator".

While pilot beams circulated in the LHC for a short time last October, the beams that circulated on Friday marked the beginning of preparations for four years of physics data taking, expected to start this summer.

X This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow X cookies for this session only. Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once

This third run of the LHC, called Run 3, will see the machine's experiments collecting data from collisions not only at a record energy but also in unparalleled numbers.

As part of the international effort, UK teams have helped improve the performance of each of the accelerators four main instruments.

UK contributions to the upgrade are worth more than £25m, funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

STFC executive chairman, Professor Mark Thomson, said: "The global science community will now eagerly await the results from the new run".

Tag » When Does The Lhc Turn Back On