What’s in the news?

• The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator.
• It is built by European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN)
• The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way.

How it works

• Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide. 
• The beams travel in opposite directions in separate beam pipes – two tubes kept at ultrahigh vacuum.
• They are guided around the accelerator ring by a strong magnetic field maintained by superconducting electromagnets. 
• Eventually, the protons move at 99.999999% of the speed of light.

What are Hadrons

• A hadron is a subatomic particle made up of smaller particles. 
• The LHC typically uses protons, which are made up of quarks and gluons

What happens on collision

• At the moment of collision, there is chaos. 
• There is a lot of energy available, and parts of it coalesce into different subatomic particles under the guidance of the fundamental forces of nature. 
• Which particle takes shape depends on the amount and flavour of energy available and which other particles are being created or destroyed around it.

Significance

• Using the data from all these collisions, they have tested the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics, the reigning theory of subatomic particles;
• They observed exotic particles like pentaquarks and tetraquarks 
• They have checked if their properties are in line with theoretical expectations; and pieced together information about extreme natural conditions, like those that existed right after the Big Bang.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/explained-a-beginners-guide-to-the-large-hadron-collider/article66724349.ece