Large Hadron Collider Update: CERN Prepares For Heavy Ion Collisions With Proton 'Reference' Run

In the latest step toward carrying out collisions of lead ions in the nearly 17-mile ring of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the operations team at CERN on Thursday began colliding protons at the lower energy of 2.51 teraelectronvolts (TeV) per beam to provide a baseline reading.

Earlier this month, CERN announced that it had successfully completed the “proton run” for this year, after accelerating bunches of protons to a record energy of 13 TeV -- or 6.5 TeV per beam -- breaking its 2012 record of 8 TeV collisions, which had led to the discovery of the Higgs boson -- also known as the “God Particle.”

However, as CERN explained in a statement released Thursday, collisions between the much heavier lead ions are way more complex than those between single protons.

[link to www.ibtimes.com]