Particles physics: news
Events, News, Publications
After three years of a scheduled break, the Large Hadron Collider LHC at CERN is back at full throttle, accelerating particle beams at record energies and since 5 July 2022 producing first collisions for physics analyses. Institutes from all over Switzerland have contributed to the upgrading of the enormous particle physics complex and scientists are keen to their hands on the new data it will produce in its new run.
Image: Brice, Maximilien CERN
Ten years ago, on 4 July 2012, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations cautiously announced the discovery of a particle “consistent with the Higgs boson” at CERN. In the end it turned out to *be* the Higgs boson, the particle that had been predicted by theorists nearly forty years earlier. What was it like to witness the announcement of one of the discoveries of the century? And what have we learned about the mysterious Higgs in the ten years since?
Image: FERMILAB
EPFL graduate Guillaume Pietrzyk wins CHIPP PhD prize
Image: Gaëlle Khreich IJCLab
The workshop focuses on the physics at the low energy, high precision frontier without neglecting complementary approaches. It aims at highlighting present activities and future developments. The Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) itself offers unique opportunities for experiments in this realm: it houses the world's most powerful proton cyclotron and the highest intensity low momentum pion and muon beams and the ultracold neutron source.
Image: PSI, Switzerland
In Switzerland, gravitational waves go a long way. Not only were they predicted by Albert Einstein in his famous general theory of relativity; Swiss researchers have been involved in attempts to detect gravitational waves from the very beginning and are keen to lend their expertise, including from particle physics, to future projects as well. Here’s an update about the current state of research…
Image: Bild: R. Williams (STScI), Hubble Deep Field Team und NASA
For cancer patients, every day counts. Imagine one could skip one step in the cancer diagnosis and treatment process and do both at the same time: finding out where the tumor is and attacking it right away. A team at the University of Bern, which runs its own medical cyclotron laboratory, is currently working on exactly that. Their cyclotron is a proper workhorse for science. During the night, it produces medical isotopes for cancer diagnostics. During the day, it sidelines as a test facility for particle physics and multi-disciplinary scientific activities.
Image: Uni Bern.
In collaboration with Scholars at Risk Switzerland, this sum is intended to enable universities to host a first wave of researchers requesting support. This will allow them to pursue their own academic work at institutions in Switzerland. Additional sums may be allocated if the need arises.
Image: denisismagilov, stock.adobe.com
Mit dem aufgerüsteten Teilchenbeschleuniger des Cern in Genf erhöht sich die Chance, neue Elementarteilchen zu finden.
Image: CERN
Have you heard of neutrinos? They’re a set of subatomic particles that are likely to cause quite some scientific uproar in the next years. Catch up on what makes these shy little fellows so special and how Swiss particle physicists are involved in solving one of the Universe’s most tenacious mysteries….
Image: Kamioka Observatory/ICRR/University of Tokyo