A US$10 billion particle accelerator close to Geneva, Switzerland, has set a new record by colliding particles at three times previous energy levels in a bid to find smaller particles and understand the origin of matter.
“With these record-shattering collision energies, the LHC experiments are propelled into a vast region to explore, and the hunt begins for dark matter, new forces, new dimensions,” said Fabiola Gianotti, a spokesperson for the experiment, in a press release.
Protons were successfully brought to speed in a 17-mile-long tunnel before eventually being aligned and collided against each other with extraordinary force. The data obtained will now be analyzed.
The collider has been in the making for 15 years and is the oldest and most expensive experiment in human history.
