The wizards at CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research, ) are at it again. The Large Hadron collider , known for it’s discovery of the Higgs -Boson Particle or its more savvy nickname- ‘The God Particle’ have recently below Switzerland and France has just accelerated its first atoms to almost the speed of light, and the results have
exceeded expectations.
The test was an intriguing proof of concept that could lead to a new series of groundbreaking experiments and potentially even new types of matter, such as dark matter.
Usually the LHC is known for it’s groundbreaking discoveries on strange new particles and questioning the limits of reality itself . However this is the first time despite a decade of experiments, this is the first time researchers have injected not just atomic nuclei into the machine, but lead atoms containing a single electron.
The experiment is a proof-of-concept for a new idea called the Gamma Factory, which would see the LHC turn into a gamma ray factory capable of producing massive particles and even new kinds of matter, such as dark matter.
“We’re investigating new ideas of how we could broaden the present CERN research programme and infrastructure,” says Michaela Schaumann, an LHC Engineer in Charge. “Finding out what’s possible is the first step.”
The reason scientists have never done this before is because lead atoms are fragile, and it’s incredibly easy to accidentally strip off the electron, which causes the nucleus to crash into the wall of the beam pipe.
However this step has been taken and all that remains is to see how far can we go questioning the limits of reality.