CERN's Large Hadron Collider creates new record in particle acceleration after awakening

Just days after being activated after a three-year hiatus, Large Hron Collider (LHC) has alrey achieved a milestone on a quantum scale. Part of European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, LHC accelerated two pilot proton beams at record energy for collision. "Today two LHC pilot beams of protons were accelerated, for first time, to record energy of 6.8 TeV per beam. After restarting LHC, this operation is part of activities to recommission machine in preparation of LHCRun3, planned for summer of 2022", CERN revealed in a tweet.

How is development significant?

This development is significant as every new milestone inside LHC is pushing scientists closer to understanding most mysterious subject to date- dark matter. Scientists say that dark matter and dark energy make up more than 85% of our universe but have not been decoded yet. As for latest achievement, after LHC was restarted for its new operating phase, called Run 3, two protons were accelerated at an energy of 6.8 teraelectronvolts (TeV).

According to Space.com, one teraelectronvolt is equivalent to one trillion electron volts and, in terms of kinetic energy, it is equal to flight speed of a mosquito. It may seem insignificant to us but on a quantum level, this is an incredible amount of energy. Earlier, CERN h stated that particle accelerator will reach  record energy of 13.6 TeV in summer of 2022. Currently, LHC has been restarted after December 2018 to confirm presence of a fifth force of nature. To date, re are four forces of nature known to mankind-  weak and strong nuclear force, gravitational force and electromagnetic force. 

First started in 2008, LHC's biggest achievement was in 2012, when it discovered  Higgs Boson or ‘ God Particle’. Higgs Boson, named after Edinburgh University physicist Peter Higgs, is basically a particle associated with Higgs field. Higgs field, on or hand, was responsible for weight of particles after y originated from big bang. According to existing ory, Higgs field is a oretical, invisible energy field that spans whole universe, and any particle interacting with this field gains mass.