The scientists overseeing the largest particle accelerator on Earth switched it on for the first time in three years to solve some of the biggest mysteries in physics.
After a three-year shutdown for maintenance and upgrades, the Large Hadron collider is back up and running. Run 3 is the third science run of the LHC and will perform experiments through 2024.
The machines and facilities underwent major upgrades during the second long shutdown of the accelerator complex.
After a 3-year shutdown, the Large Hadron Collider will explore the cutting edge of physics.
Scientists fired up the ring to inject two beams of protons in opposite directions at an energy level of 450 billion electronvolts. Scientists said that even higher energy levels will be achieved by the end of Run 3.
The beams contained a relatively small number of protons. Rhodri Jones, who leads the Beams department, said in the statement that high-intensity, high-energy collisions are a couple of months away.
The three-year shutdown of the LHC allowed scientists to make significant improvements to four key experiments. The past two runs combined, the detectors alone will receive more particle collisions. The tiny particles from particle collisions are detected by the ATLAS and used to hunt for the elusive Higgs Boson and dark matter. The Compact Muon Solenoid is a general-purpose detector that uses different systems for observations.
The ALICE experiment for heavy-ion collisions will be able to detect 50 times more collisions thanks to its upgrade, while another instrument, called LHCb, will see its detection capability increase by a factor of three.
The number of collisions will allow international teams of physicists at CERN and across the world to study the Higgs boson in great detail.
There will be two new experiments on the LHC. They are expected to explore new physics beyond the Standard Model, measure how often antimatter forms and explore the physics of Cosmic rays and a strange state of matter.
It will take several weeks of work to get the reworked LHC ready for science. The science runs are expected to start in the summer.
After Run 3 ends in 2024, scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research will make more improvements to the particle accelerator. Once complete, those upgrades will allow scientists to change the name of the Large Hadron Collider.
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