This Particle Accelerator Makes A Substance That Hasn’t Existed in 13 Billion Years: ‘Quark Soup’

A particle accelerator is a powerful scientific instrument used to accelerate charged particles, such as protons or electrons, to extremely high energies. These accelerators use electromagnetic fields to propel particles to nearly the speed of light, allowing scientists to study the properties and behavior of particles under extreme conditions.

There are two main types of particle accelerators: linear accelerators and circular accelerators. Linear accelerators, also called linacs, use a straight path to accelerate particles. Circular accelerators, on the other hand, use a circular path to accelerate particles, allowing them to be accelerated multiple times in a continuous loop.

Particle accelerators have a wide range of applications in scientific research, including the study of the fundamental particles that make up the universe, the investigation of nuclear reactions, and the development of new technologies for medical diagnosis and treatment. The most powerful particle accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland, can create high-energy collisions between particles, providing insight into the nature of matter and the origins of the universe.

By using one of the most complicated and powerful machines on the planet, scientists have found a way to glimpse back to the very beginning of time itself.