Tag: heavy ion
To recreate conditions similar to those of the very early universe, powerful accelerators make head-on collisions between massive ions, such as gold or lead nuclei. Learn more about CERN’s heavy ion collisions here.
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Accelerator Report: Ending the 2024 LHC proton run on a high note
This year’s LHC proton run ended on 16 October, surpassing expectations with 11% more collisions than planned. Next up: the lead-ion run
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Accelerator Report: Preparing the LHC and its injector complex for the 2024 lead-ion run
The physics run for the SPS North Area will start on 4 November, followed by the LHC lead-ion physics run on 6 November, and the PS East Area on 11 November
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ALICE does the double slit
Using collisions between lead nuclei at the LHC, the ALICE collaboration has measured an interference pattern akin to that of the famous double-slit experiment
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Charm is better than beauty at going with the flow
New ALICE measurements shed light on the dynamics of charm and beauty particles in quark–gluon plasma
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ALICE bags about twelve billion heavy-ion collisions
The whopping number of collisions recorded by ALICE during the recent five-week heavy-ion run of the LHC is 40 times greater than the total recorded by the experiment in its previous periods of heavy-ion data taking, from 2010 to 2018
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Accelerator Report: Ending the 2023 run with a quench
Another few days and the last 2023 LHC beams will be dumped, hopefully by the machine protection system following a controlled magnet quench
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LIVE: from the CERN Control Centre with the four largest LHC experiments
Join scientists from the four largest LHC experiments and other experts, live at the CERN Control Centre on 2 November 2023, 3 p.m. CET, for a recap of the first heavy-ion run of the LHC Run 3
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Accelerator Report: Optimisation for greater success (and new challenges)
Since the last Accelerator Report, lead-ion beams have been successfully provided to the SPS North Area, in particular to the NA61 experiment, which is their principal user
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Accelerator Report: SPS and LHC lead-ion physics: navigating technical hurdles for success
On Thursday, 28 September, at 8.00 a.m., as planned, the Operations team at the SPS stopped producing proton beams for the experiments in the SPS North Area (NA). Instead, they switched over to lead-ion beams, in preparation for a month-long physics run that begins on Monday, 2 October, and will continue until 6.00 a.m. on
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Accelerator Report: Getting lead ions ready for physics
In about a week, lead ions will be sent from the SPS into the LHC to collide in the accelerator’s four big experiments