Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is a 27-kilometer particle accelerator near Geneva that collides protons and heavy ions at high energies. CERN operates it to investigate fundamental particles and forces.

Proton–proton collision: An interaction in which two protons collide, producing particles and energy governed by the strong and electroweak forces. Most LHC collisions use counter-rotating proton beams to create high-energy interactions.
ATLAS experiment: A general-purpose particle-physics experiment at one of the Large Hadron Collider’s proton-collision points. ATLAS searched for the Higgs boson and measures a broad range of collision phenomena.
CERN: The European Organization for Nuclear Research, an international laboratory for particle physics near Geneva. CERN proposed, built, and operates the Large Hadron Collider.
Higgs mechanism: A mechanism in which interactions with a field give mass to elementary particles while preserving gauge symmetry. The Higgs boson discovery at the LHC provided direct evidence for this mechanism.
Superconducting magnet: A magnet whose electrical resistance vanishes below a critical temperature, enabling persistent currents and strong magnetic fields. Superconducting dipole magnets bend the LHC’s proton beams around its circular tunnel.
CMS experiment: A general-purpose particle-physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, built around a compact, powerful solenoid magnet. CMS independently observed the Higgs boson and tests many of the same questions as ATLAS.
Large Electron–Positron Collider: A CERN circular collider that operated in the LHC tunnel from 1989 to 2000 to collide electrons and positrons. LEP occupied the tunnel before the LHC, whose construction followed its shutdown.
Standard Model: The quantum field theory describing known elementary particles and three of the four fundamental interactions. LHC measurements test the Standard Model and search for deviations from its predictions.
Radio-frequency cavity: A resonant structure that transfers energy to charged particles through oscillating electromagnetic fields. Radio-frequency cavities accelerate LHC particles and keep their bunches synchronized.
LHCb experiment: A Large Hadron Collider experiment specializing in particles containing bottom or charm quarks and matter–antimatter differences. Its forward detector studies rare decays and asymmetries in heavy-flavor particles made at the LHC.

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