As we come to a close with the CERN Zone, it’s time to reflect on the incredible progress and achievements of our dedicated teams. Here are some updates from the CERN scientists who have been tirelessly pushing the boundaries of our understanding of the universe.
🔬ISOLDE Team
ISOLDE has continued to measure the properties of radioactive nuclei, pushing the bounds of our understanding of the masses, shapes, and structure of these nuclei.
Some specific examples include beginning to study radioactive molecules, which allows the probing of beyond-standard-model physics; measuring the first direct evidence of the decay of the 229Th isomer, which is a strong candidate for a nuclear clock (much more precise than an atomic clock); and the new PUMA experiment, which hopes to use antimatter to probe radioactive nuclei, is beginning to be built and will hopefully begin measurements in the next five years. – Patrick
🔎 LHCb Team
LHCb has been getting pretty busy recently; between setting up the first upgrade to the detector and finally restarting data taking after the last long shutdown, a lot is happening out here.
One big point of celebration inside the collaboration this year has been at the successful reinstallation of our VELO detector, one of the most important bits of technology we have at our disposal to work out what happened in our proton collisions. This follows a small hiccup around the start of 2023 that caused it to be damaged and affected our data for the rest of the year.
Currently, work on a huge variety of subjects is taking place in our associated labs and universities across the world, including as far as the dark sector and other searches for beyond the standard model physics. Recent results from the collaboration have been numerous, with us just proving in 2022 the existence of several previously unseen types of tetraquarks and pentaquarks (think regular hadrons, like a proton or neutron, but with extra quarks), which had been theoretically predicted for many years.
As for something which might be exciting to you, here’s something you can actually get involved with hands on; in December 2023, LHCb released all of its run 1 datasets to the public – if you’re feeling really determined you could even do your own analysis! Who knows what you might find? – Jonathan
⚛️ CMS Team
The CMS team has been hard at work and recently released 12 new results. Among the highlights, we observed entanglement between high-momentum top quark-antiquark pairs for the first time, showcasing “spooky action at a distance” at unprecedented energy levels. Additionally, our study of low-energy collisions at the LHC revealed surprisingly sphere-like events, which may provide new insights into the early universe’s antimatter disappearance.
We also explored the potential production of quark-gluon plasma in proton collisions, not just in lead-lead collisions. Our searches for new particles focused on the tau lepton and included investigations into heavy resonances and particles predicted by models with extra dimensions and supersymmetry. Lastly, our study of B meson decays could shed light on new physics or subtle effects from low-energy strong interactions.
For detailed findings and updates, keep an eye on our publications and briefings as the conferences progress. Follow @CMSExperiment on social media for the latest news and insights. – CMS Team
We have an open live Chat today at 12:30pm, drop by and ask the CERN scientists any questions you have. The theme of the Chat is ‘Explore real-life applications of nuclear physics‘ – but you’re welcome to ask about anything; live-work-balance at CERN, university planning, apprenticeships etc. Drop in and say hello!
