The world's largest
particle collider is getting ready to smash atoms harder than ever before.
After a 3 year break
of scheduled maintenance, upgrades and delays, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is preparing to power up for its third, and most powerful yet, experimental period.
If all initial tests
and checks starting this month go well, scientists will begin experiments in June and slowly ramp up to full power by the end of July
The new run could reveal
the elusive particles that make up dark matter, which exerts gravity but does not interact with light
The collider's upgraded capabilities
will focus on exploring the properties of particles in the Standard Model, including the Higgs boson, and hunting for evidence of dark matter.
The new upgrades will allow
the LHC to smash particles harder than ever before — up to an energy of 6.8 teraelectronvolts, an increase over the previous limit of 6.5 teraelectronvolts