Significant Milestone at the LHC
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has achieved a remarkable feat by successfully colliding beams of protons and oxygen ions for the first time. This significant event marks the beginning of a unique operation phase, where the LHC will engage in proton–oxygen ion collisions from June 29 to July 9. Following this, the LHC will also conduct oxygen–oxygen and neon–neon collisions. These experiments will cover a wide array of research topics, including the study of cosmic rays, the strong force, and the quark–gluon plasma.
This groundbreaking initiative concludes a long preparatory process that started in mid-April, with initial feasibility studies dating back to 2019. Engineers had to rigorously configure the LHC for operations with oxygen and neon ions, which are produced in Linac3 before being injected into various stages of the accelerator. Roderik Bruce, an LHC ion specialist, notes that colliding protons with oxygen ions presents unique challenges due to the differing charge-to-mass ratios of these particles. Engineers are meticulously adjusting the beams to ensure that collisions occur precisely within the LHC’s four main experiments: ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb.
Innovations and Future Prospects
This campaign is not just about collisions; it also provides a platform to test crystal collimation, an essential upgrade to improve the LHC’s collimation system. The current conventional system struggles with ion beams, prompting the testing of crystal collimators before the oxygen–oxygen and neon–neon runs begin. Interestingly, after several hours, the oxygen beams may need to be ejected due to beam pollution, a challenge unique to oxygen. This phenomenon, referred to as the transmutation effect, creates secondary particles that can complicate collision analysis.
