heavy ion

To recreate conditions similar to those of the very early universe, powerful accelerators make head-on collisions between massive ions, such as gold or lead nuclei. Learn more about CERN's heavy ion collisions here.
47 results

Heavy-ion run at the LHC begins

For the next 17 days, every minute counts when it comes to taking lead–lead collision data

News
Experiments
06 November, 2024
Experiments
News
06 November, 2024

Accelerator Report: Lead ions take the stage

As the LHC and SPS wrap up their 2024 proton run, teams are making final preparations for the lead-ion physics run starting on 4 November

News
Accelerators
31 October, 2024
Accelerators
News
31 October, 2024

CMS uses photons to probe the structure of nuclei

Using data from the first heavy-ion run of LHC Run 3 in 2023, the experiment presents the first-ever measurement of D0 meson production in photon-lead collisions

News
Physics
25 October, 2024

Accelerator Report: Ending the 2024 LHC proton run on a high note

This year’s LHC proton run ended on 16 October, surpassing expectations with 11% more collisions than planned. Next up: the lead-ion run

News
Accelerators
17 October, 2024
Accelerators
News
17 October, 2024

Accelerator Report: Preparing the LHC and its injector complex for the 2024 lead-ion run

The physics run for the SPS North Area will start on 4 November, followed by the LHC lead-ion physics run on 6 November, and the PS East Area on 11 November

News
Accelerators
20 September, 2024
Accelerators
News
20 September, 2024

ALICE does the double slit

Using collisions between lead nuclei at the LHC, the ALICE collaboration has measured an interference pattern akin to that of the famous double-slit experiment

News
Physics
12 August, 2024
Physics
News
12 August, 2024

ALICE bags about twelve billion heavy-ion collisions

The whopping number of collisions recorded by ALICE during the recent five-week heavy-ion run of the LHC is 40 times greater than the total recorded by the experiment in its previous periods of heavy-ion data taking, from 2010 to 2018

News
Experiments
01 December, 2023
Experiments
News
01 December, 2023

Charm is better than beauty at going with the flow

New ALICE measurements shed light on the dynamics of charm and beauty particles in quark–gluon plasma

News
Physics
15 December, 2023

Accelerator Report: Ending the 2023 run with a quench

Another few days and the last 2023 LHC beams will be dumped, hopefully by the machine protection system following a controlled magnet quench

News
Accelerators
26 October, 2023
Accelerators
News
26 October, 2023

LIVE: from the CERN Control Centre with the four largest LHC experiments

Join scientists from the four largest LHC experiments and other experts, live at the CERN Control Centre on 2 November 2023, 3 p.m. CET, for a recap of the first heavy-ion run of the LHC Run 3

News
Experiments
25 October, 2023
Experiments
News
25 October, 2023

Accelerator Report: Optimisation for greater success (and new challenges)

Since the last Accelerator Report, lead-ion beams have been successfully provided to the SPS North Area, in particular to the NA61 experiment, which is their principal user

News
Accelerators
12 October, 2023
Accelerators
News
12 October, 2023