With its proton beams, the newly upgraded Large Hadron Collider (LHC) set a new world record. The LHC, located at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, reopened on April 22 after a planned three-year hiatus, during which time the facility was upgraded. These improvements are already being tested and the LHC has already broken the previous record in restarting and preparing for its new working phase, known as Run 3. This particle accelerator is the largest and most powerful in the world. Shortly after the LHC protons were turned back on, the test run accelerated to higher energy levels than before.
Two pilot beams from the world’s most powerful particle system accelerated to record 6.8 teroelectron volts (TeV) of energy per beam.
CERN wrote in a tweet on its official handle, “Today two LHC pilot protons accelerated to a record power of 6.8 TeV per beam for the first time. Following the relaunch of LHC, this operation will be part of the machine’s commissioning activities to manufacture LHC Run3 planned for the summer of 2022.
CERN shared the video along with the tweet. LHC Beam Operations Division Head George Wenninger heard in the video, explaining that this was the beginning of the LHC’s long commission phase after the upgrades, with the first collision in six to eight weeks.
Today two #LHC The pilot beams of the protons were, for the first time, accelerated to a record power of 6.8 TeV per beam. ????
After Restarting #LHCThis operation is part of the machine’s commissioning activities in preparation # LHCRun3Planned for the summer of 2022. pic.twitter.com/8NZ6nNJSVf
– CERN (CERN) April 25, 2022
Since December 2018, the LHC has been inactive since it closed for maintenance. It works by accelerating the rays of two protons in opposite directions. These high-energy rays collide, allowing cell physicists to explore distant parts of the physical universe and even uncover previously unknown parts of physics.
The LHC’s proton beam power is expected to increase from 6.5 TeV to 6.8 TeV, thanks to improvements made during the planned closure. In terms of kinetic energy, a TeV equals one trillion electron volts and is equivalent to the flying power of a mosquito. Although it appears to be a modest force, it is a huge amount of energy per proton.
LHC, which began operations on September 10, 2008, was recently added to CERN’s Accelerator Complex. It is a 27-kilometer circular tunnel with superconducting magnets, many rapid structures to increase the force of particles along the path, and it is underground.