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#LHC

4 posts4 participants1 post today
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jbz

💥 ALICE detects the conversion of lead into gold at the LHC | CERN

｢ Near-miss collisions between high-energy lead nuclei at the LHC generate intense electromagnetic fields that can knock out protons and transform lead into fleeting quantities of gold nuclei ｣

home.cern/news/news/physics/al

CERNALICE detects the conversion of lead into gold at the LHCIn a paper published in Physical Review Journals, the ALICE collaboration reports measurements that quantify the transmutation of lead into gold in CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Transforming the base metal lead into the precious metal gold was a dream of medieval alchemists. This long-standing quest, known as chrysopoeia, may have been motivated by the observation that dull grey, relatively abundant lead is of a similar density to gold, which has long been coveted for its beautiful colour and rarity. It was only much later that it became clear that lead and gold are distinct chemical elements and that chemical methods are powerless to transmute one into the other. With the dawn of nuclear physics in the 20th century, it was discovered that heavy elements could transform into others, either naturally, by radioactive decay, or in the laboratory, under a bombardment of neutrons or protons. Though gold has been artificially produced in this way before, the ALICE collaboration has now measured the transmutation of lead into gold by a new mechanism involving near-miss collisions between lead nuclei at the LHC. Extremely high-energy collisions between lead nuclei at the LHC can create quark–gluon plasma, a hot and dense state of matter that is thought to have filled the universe around a millionth of a second after the Big Bang, giving rise to the matter we now know. However, in the far more frequent interactions where the nuclei just miss each other without “touching”, the intense electromagnetic fields surrounding them can induce photon–photon and photon–nucleus interactions that open further avenues of exploration. The electromagnetic field emanating from a lead nucleus is particularly strong because the nucleus contains 82 protons, each carrying one elementary charge. Moreover, the very high speed at which lead nuclei travel in the LHC (corresponding to 99.999993% of the speed of light) causes the electromagnetic field lines to be squashed into a thin pancake, transverse to the direction of motion, producing a short-lived pulse of photons. Often, this triggers a process called electromagnetic dissociation, whereby a photon interacting with a nucleus can excite oscillations of its internal structure, resulting in the ejection of small numbers of neutrons and protons. To create gold (a nucleus containing 79 protons), three protons must be removed from a lead nucleus in the LHC beams. “It is impressive to see that our detectors can handle head-on collisions producing thousands of particles, while also being sensitive to collisions where only a few particles are produced at a time, enabling the study of electromagnetic ‘nuclear transmutation’ processes,” says Marco Van Leeuwen, ALICE spokesperson. The ALICE team used the detector’s zero degree calorimeters (ZDC) to count the number of photon–nucleus interactions that resulted in the emission of zero, one, two and three protons accompanied by at least one neutron, which are associated with the production of lead, thallium, mercury and gold, respectively. While less frequent than the creation of thallium or mercury, the results show that the LHC currently produces gold at a maximum rate of about 89 000 nuclei per second from lead–lead collisions at the ALICE collision point. Gold nuclei emerge from the collision with very high energy and hit the LHC beam pipe or collimators at various points downstream, where they immediately fragment into single protons, neutrons and other particles. The gold exists for just a tiny fraction of a second. The ALICE analysis shows that, during Run 2 of the LHC (2015–2018), about 86 billion gold nuclei were created at the four major experiments. In terms of mass, this corresponds to just 29 picograms (2.9 ×10-11 g). Since the luminosity in the LHC is continually increasing thanks to regular upgrades to the machines, Run 3 has produced almost double the amount of gold that Run 2 did, but the total still amounts to trillions of times less than would be required to make a piece of jewellery. While the dream of medieval alchemists has technically come true, their hopes of riches have once again been dashed. “Thanks to the unique capabilities of the ALICE ZDCs, the present analysis is the first to systematically detect and analyse the signature of gold production at the LHC experimentally,” says Uliana Dmitrieva of the ALICE collaboration. “The results also test and improve theoretical models of electromagnetic dissociation which, beyond their intrinsic physics interest, are used to understand and predict beam losses that are a major limit on the performance of the LHC and future colliders,” adds John Jowett, also of the ALICE collaboration. Additional image:  Illustration of an ultra-peripheral collision where the two lead (208Pb) ion beams at the LHC pass by close to each other without colliding. In the electromagnetic dissociation process, a photon interacting with a nucleus can excite oscillations of its internal structure and result in the ejection of small numbers of neutrons (two) and protons (three), leaving the gold (203Au) nucleus behind (Image: CERN)  
#lhc#cern#science
Public
Jef

"Good news everyone!"

Ireland to become an Associate Member State of CERN

On 8 May 2025, CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti and Irish Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless signed an agreement admitting Ireland as an Associate Member State of CERN

home.cern/news/press-release/c

CERNIreland to become an Associate Member State of CERNToday, CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science of Ireland, James Lawless, signed an agreement admitting Ireland as an Associate Member State of CERN. The Associate Membership will enter into force once CERN has been informed that Ireland has completed all the necessary accession and ratification processes. “We are extremely happy to welcome Ireland as an Associate Member State of CERN. Irish scientists have been involved in CERN’s programmes for more than two decades, covering fields as varied as experimental physics, theory, medical applications and computer science. This agreement enables us to enhance our collaboration, opening up a broad range of new and mutually beneficial opportunities in fundamental research, technological developments and innovation, and education and training activities,” said Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director-General. “I am delighted to have signed this Associate Membership Agreement with CERN. This represents the culmination of significant work by the Government and CERN, building on the excellence of the Irish physics community. As an associate member of one of the world’s most significant research organisations, Ireland will have an opportunity to gain access to excellent research, innovation, collaboration and industry contracts. This long-term international commitment to our scientific community will demonstrate the Irish Government’s continued and expanding support of Ireland’s participation in leading global research collaborations,” said James Lawless, Irish Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. Universities from Ireland are participating in the LHC experiments ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb, as well in experiments at the ISOLDE facility. A number of  theoretical physics groups in Ireland also collaborate with CERN. Furthermore, Ireland has a strong interest in computer science, medical physics and civil engineering, and several of its universities are working with CERN on various projects in these fields. Ireland submitted its formal application to Associate Membership in November 2023. Associate Member State status was granted to Ireland by the CERN Council on 28 March 2025. As an Associate Member State, Ireland will be entitled to appoint representatives to attend meetings of the CERN Council, of the Finance Committee and of the Scientific Policy Committee. Irish nationals will be eligible to apply for limited-duration staff positions and CERN’s graduate programmes. Irish companies will be able to bid for CERN contracts, increasing opportunities for industrial collaboration in advanced technologies.
#cern#ireland#europe
Public
MediaFaro News Digest

LHC breaks the record for heaviest antimatter nucleus ever seen.

Researchers have found evidence of an exotic form of antimatter in the aftermath of colliding extremely fast lead ions.

Benjamin Dönigus at Goethe University Frankfurt and colleagues from the Large Hadron Collider at the Geneva CERN particle physics laboratory have created an unprecedentedly heavy antimatter nucleus: antihyperhelium-4.

mediafaro.org/article/20250422

A particle smasher has created antihyperhelium-4, the heaviest antimatter nucleus ever made in a physics labDuncan Walker/Getty Images
New Scientist · LHC breaks the record for heaviest antimatter nucleus ever seen.By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
#LargeHadronCollider#LHC#CERN
Public
Journal of Alpine Research

"'Le chantier de la démesure': des physiciens veulent creuser un #tunnel de 91 km en Haute-Savoie"

> Peut-on construire un gigantesque tunnel au nom de la science? Entre la France et la Suisse, un laboratoire de physique prévoit un anneau de 91 km à 200 m de profondeur. Son coût, économique et écologique, est colossal.

via @Reporterre:

reporterre.net/Le-chantier-de-

Carte: Un projet d'accélérateur de particules géant près d'Annecy (c) Louise Allain / Reporterre
#HauteSavoie#Cern#LHC
Public
universeinthelab

Aufruf an alle #Schüler*innen: Wollt ihr die Geheimnisse des Universums entdecken?

Macht mit bei unserer International Masterclass!

GSI/FAIR in #Darmstadt lädt zur IPPOG Veranstaltung ein, bei der Schüler*innen in die faszinierende Welt der Teilchenphysik eintauchen können.

Ihr könnt echte Daten vom ALICE Experiment beim #LHC bei #CERN analysieren.

Klingt spannend? Meldet euch jetzt an: gsi.de/jobskarriere/angebote_f

#Physik #ResearchDay #Oberstufe #ALICEmasterclass

© Julien Ordan, CERN

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Chuck Darwin

The Justice Department,
together with the Attorneys General of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York,
🔥filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today
⭐️ to block #UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UnitedHealth)’s proposed
👉 $3.3 billion acquisition of
rival home health and hospice services provider #Amedisys Inc. (Amedisys).

The complaint filed in the District of Maryland alleges that the transaction would
❌ eliminate competition between UnitedHealth and Amedisys (Defendants).

Since UnitedHealth’s prior acquisition of Amedisys’s home health and hospice rival #LHC Group Inc. (LHC) in 2023, Defendants have been two of the largest home health and hospice providers in the United States.

🆘 Eliminating the competition between UnitedHealth and Amedisys would harm patients who receive home health and hospice services, insurers who contract for home health services, and nurses who provide home health and hospice services.

“We are challenging this merger because home health and hospice patients and their families experiencing some of the most difficult moments of their lives deserve affordable, high quality care options,”
said Attorney General #Merrick B. #Garland.

“The Justice Department will not hesitate to check unlawful consolidation and monopolization in the healthcare market that threatens to harm vulnerable patients, their families, and health care workers.”

“Millions of patients depend on United and Amedisys to receive home health and hospice care in the comfort of their homes,”
said Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “

❇️ The Department’s lawsuit demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that consolidation does not threaten quality, affordability, or wages in these vital healthcare markets.

I commend the staff of the Antitrust Division for their extraordinary work on this matter.”
justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-dep

www.justice.gov · Justice Department Sues to Block UnitedHealth Group’s Acquisition of Home Health and Hospice Provider AmedisysThe Justice Department, together with the Attorneys General of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today to block UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UnitedHealth)’s proposed $3.3 billion acquisition of rival home health and hospice services provider Amedisys Inc. (Amedisys). The complaint filed in the District of Maryland alleges that the
Public
:rss: Hacker News

ALICE finds first ever evidence of the antimatter partner of hyperhelium-4
home.cern/news/news/physics/al
#ycombinator #physics #CERN #Large_Hadron_Collider #LHC #high_energy_physics #particles #science

CERNALICE finds first ever evidence of the antimatter partner of hyperhelium-4Illustration of the production of antihyperhelium-4 (a bound state of two antiprotons, an antineutron and an antilambda) in lead–lead collisions. (Image: J. Ditzel with AI-assistance) Collisions between heavy ions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) create quark–gluon plasma, a hot and dense state of matter that is thought to have filled the Universe around one millionth of a second after the Big Bang. Heavy-ion collisions also create suitable conditions for the production of atomic nuclei and exotic hypernuclei, as well as their antimatter counterparts, antinuclei and antihypernuclei. Measurements of these forms of matter are important for various purposes, including helping to understand the formation of hadrons from the plasma’s constituent quarks and gluons and the matter–antimatter asymmetry seen in the present-day Universe. Hypernuclei are exotic nuclei formed by a mix of protons, neutrons and hyperons, the latter being unstable particles containing one or more quarks of the strange type. More than 70 years since their discovery in cosmic rays, hypernuclei remain a source of fascination for physicists because they are rarely found in nature and it’s challenging to create and study them in the laboratory. In heavy-ion collisions, hypernuclei are created in significant quantities, but until recently only the lightest hypernucleus, hypertriton, and its antimatter partner, antihypertriton, have been observed. A hypertriton is composed of a proton, a neutron and a lambda (a hyperon containing one strange quark). An antihypertriton is made up of an antiproton, an antineutron and an antilambda. Following hot on the heels of an observation of antihyperhydrogen-4 (a bound state of an antiproton, two antineutrons and an antilambda), reported earlier this year by the STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), the ALICE collaboration at the LHC has now seen the first ever evidence of antihyperhelium-4, which is composed of twoantiprotons, an antineutron and an antilambda. The result has a significance of 3.5 standard deviations and also represents the first evidence of the heaviest antimatter hypernucleus yet at the LHC. The ALICE measurement is based on lead–lead collision data taken in 2018 at an energy of 5.02 teraelectronvolts (TeV) for each colliding pair of nucleons (protons and neutrons). Using a machine-learning technique that outperforms conventional hypernuclei search techniques, the ALICE researchers looked at the data for signals of hyperhydrogen-4, hyperhelium-4 and their antimatter partners. Candidates for (anti)hyperhydrogen-4 were identified by looking for the (anti)helium-4 nucleus and the charged pion into which it decays, whereas candidates for (anti)hyperhelium-4 were identified via its decay into an (anti)helium-3 nucleus, an (anti)proton and a charged pion. In addition to finding evidence of antihyperhelium-4 with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations, as well as evidence of antihyperhydrogen-4 with a significance of 4.5 standard deviations, the ALICE team measured the production yields and masses of both hypernuclei. For both hypernuclei, the measured masses are compatible with the current world-average values. The measured production yields were compared with predictions from the statistical hadronisation model, which provides a good description of the formation of hadrons and nuclei in heavy-ion collisions. This comparison shows that the model’s predictions agree closely with the data if both excited hypernuclear states and ground states are included in the predictions. The results confirm that the statistical hadronisation model can also provide a good description of the production of hypernuclei, which are compact objects with sizes of around 2 femtometres (1 femtometre is 10-15 metres). The researchers also determined the antiparticle-to-particle yield ratios for both hypernuclei and found that they agree with unity within the experimental uncertainties. This agreement is consistent with ALICE’s observation of the equal production of matter and antimatter at LHC energies and adds to the ongoing research into the matter–antimatter imbalance in the Universe.
Public
George Musser

Physicists at the #LHC have measured the quantum entanglement of the spin of top quarks produced in proton collisions, reports @dangaristo. It's cool because the energies are so high - a world away from the sedate conditions of a typical quantum entanglement experiment. In their paper, the researchers suggest the collider is a good place to study entanglement-related phenomena such as quantum discord. nature.com/articles/d41586-024

www.nature.comQuantum feat: physicists observe entangled quarks for first timeParticle measurements at the Large Hadron Collider open the door to future high-energy tests of entanglement.
Public
KB

Even if it gets built, I'll be long dead before it yields any results... At least I was around for confirmation of the Higgs Boson (that's bo-zon, Jeremy Paxman and others, not bo-sun. That's a man on a boat.)

bbc.co.uk/news/science-environ

BBC NewsHuge atom-smasher bid to find missing 95% of UniverseResearchers want a new, much bigger supercollider but is it worth us paying the £17bn price tag?
#Physics#ParticlePhysics#CERN
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