Note: Oak Ridge National Laboratory has led an eight-year upgrade of the electromagnetic calorimeter used for LHC’s experiment called ALICE  (for A Large Ion Collider Experiment). This detector measures the energies of high-energy electrons and gamma rays to learn more about the conditions of the early universe. Thomas M. Cormier leads the LHC Heavy Ion Group in ORNL’s Physics Division.
On Sunday, April 5, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator began its second act. After two years of upgrades and repairs, proton beams once again circulated around the Large Hadron Collider, located at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland.
With the collider back in action, the more than 1,700 U.S. scientists who work on LHC experiments are prepared to join thousands of their international colleagues to study the highest-energy particle collisions ever achieved in the laboratory.
These collisions—hundreds of millions of them every second—will lead scientists to new and unexplored realms of physics, and could yield extraordinary insights into the nature of the physical universe.
A highlight of the LHC’s first run, which began in 2009, was the discovery of the Higgs boson, the last in the suite of elementary particles that make up scientists’ best picture of the universe and how it works. The discovery of the Higgs was announced in July 2012 by two experimental collaborations, ATLAS and CMS. Continuing to measure the properties of the Higgs will be a major focus of LHC Run 2.
“The Higgs discovery was one of the most important scientific achievements of our time,” said James Siegrist, the U.S. Department of Energy’s associate director of science for high energy physics. “With the LHC operational again, at even higher energies, the possibilities for new discoveries are endless, and the United States will be at the forefront of those discoveries.”
During the LHC’s second run, particles will collide at a staggering 13 teraelectronvolts (TeV), which is 60 percent higher than any accelerator has achieved before. The LHC’s four major particle detectors—ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, and LHCb—will collect and analyze data from these collisions, allowing them to probe new areas of research that were previously unattainable.
At 17 miles around, the Large Hadron Collider is one of the largest machines ever built. The United States played a vital role in the construction of the LHC and the huge and intricate detectors for its experiments. Seven U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories joined roughly 90 U.S. universities to build key components of the accelerator, detectors, and computing infrastructure, with funding from the DOE Office of Science and the National Science Foundation.
The U.S. contingent was part of an estimated 10,000 people from 113 different countries who helped to design, build, and upgrade the LHC accelerator and its four particle detectors.
“We are on the threshold of an exciting time in particle physics: the LHC will turn on with the highest energy beam ever achieved,” said Fleming Crim, National Science Foundation assistant director for mathematical and physical sciences. “This energy regime will open the door to new discoveries about our universe that were impossible as recently as two years ago.”
In addition to the scientists pushing toward new discoveries on the four main experiments, the U.S. provides a significant portion of the computing and data analysis—roughly 23 percent for ATLAS and 33 percent for CMS. U.S. scientists on the ALICE experiment developed control and tracking systems for the detector and made significant contributions in software, hardware, and computing support. US scientists also helped improve trigger software for data analysis for the LHCb experiment.
U.S. institutions will continue to make important contributions to the LHC and its experiments, even beyond the second run, which is scheduled to continue through the middle of 2018. Universities and national laboratories are developing new accelerator and detector technology for future upgrades of the LHC and its experiments. This ongoing work encourages a strong partnership between science and industry, and drives technological innovation in the United States.
“Operating accelerators for the benefit of the physics community is what CERN’s here for,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “Today, CERN’s heart beats once more to the rhythm of the LHC.”
For more information on the U.S. role in the Large Hadron Collider, visit this website: http://uslhc.web.cern.ch. For a series of videos on the LHC featuring U.S. scientists, visit this YouTube playlist.
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world’s leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Serbia is an associate member in the pre-stage to membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Union, JINR, and UNESCO have observer status.
The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2015, its budget is $7.3 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities, and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 48,000 competitive proposals for funding, and makes about 11,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $626 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
Ron Nussbeck says
The accelerators ability to detect unknown subatomic particles from experiments at the LHC leave Physics professionals postulating what new particles will be found. To me there are a few subatomic particles that could surprise everyone as we reach higher TeV. One such finding are 2 newly theoretical particles, A+, A- particles would be the smallest of all subatomic particles and the last to be detected until TeV levels are sufficient for them to be identified. A+ and A- coming into contact with one another will in theory create a Black Hole or a door way to another Dimension. These particles rarely in nature come together under any circumstances but when they do it releases more energy per gram than any thing known to man. It appears Quasars created by Black Holes cause A+ and A- to come in contact with one another and no where else in the Universe this happens except possibly at CERN soon? The real reason these particles were aligned in Atoms this way is so the Universe does not destroy itself in a massive ball of flames and black holes. Although A+ and A- sits within an atom a distance of just 1 Planck length from each other they have never collided before on purpose but if CERN has their way it will happen soon. The reason A+ and A- make Black holes is the energy released is sufficient to disintegrate the fabric of space time momentarily. If CERN is able to make a Black Hole it will prove that there is an existence beyond our Universe and other dimensions just within a Planck’s length from us?
Dave Smith says
Each and every one of the above sentences is standalone nonsense.
Ron Nussbeck says
David Smith, the universe is composed of subatomic particles that humans cannot detect directly or even understand, yet “You” have decided what the Universe it is or is no made of by your statement. Only after reading one sentence from you it’s clear your competency in subatomic models is deficient and does not merit this reply.