The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has successfully collided protons with oxygen ions for the first time, marking a significant milestone in particle physics research. From June 29 to July 9, the accelerator will run two days of proton-oxygen ion collisions, followed by two days of oxygen-oxygen collisions and one day of neon-neon collisions.
This campaign will explore various research areas, including cosmic rays, the strong force, and quark-gluon plasma. The LHC experiments are expecting a rich harvest of new data from these collisions. The experiment requires special setup, as the oxygen and neon ions must be configured for operation within the accelerator complex.
The current operating mode with proton-oxygen ion collisions is challenging due to differences in charge-to-mass ratios between protons and oxygen ions. Engineers have carefully adjusted the frequency of revolution and momentum of each beam to ensure accurate collisions at the heart of the four main experiments: ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb.
Other experiments, such as LHCf, which studies cosmic rays, are also involved in this campaign. The experiment installed a detector along the LHC beamline for proton-oxygen runs, while crystal collimation will be tested during oxygen-oxygen and neon-neon collisions to mitigate ion beam halos.
This campaign provides an opportunity to continue testing crucial upgrades to the LHC collimation system and explore new research areas. For more information on the LHC experiments’ programme of research, follow articles from ALICE, ATLAS, and CMS.
Source: https://home.cern/news/news/accelerators/first-ever-collisions-oxygen-lhc