LHC crosses the beams - November 24, 2009
The Large Hadron Collider has finally collided something!
Actually, given the woes that have beset the particle physics experiment, the LHC has probably been responsible for several previous collisions: between physicists’ heads and various walls at the CERN complex. But now it has begun the proper smashing – that of particles against other particles – by cross the beams of protons that have been circulating around the giant ring since last week.
In a statement, CERN said:
Beams were first tuned to produce collisions in the ATLAS detector, which recorded its first candidate for collisions at 14:22 [yesterday] afternoon.
This image shows the first possible collision seen at the ATLAS experiment:
See also: LHC sees particles circulate once more
Image: CERN
