CMS has successfully completed its final heavy-ion data-taking period of LHC Run 3! Members of our group contributed to the effort, helping collect the collision data that will support years of physics studies.
When heavy atomic nuclei collide at nearly the speed of light, they briefly create an extraordinarily hot state of matter called the quark-gluon plasma. In this state, quarks and gluons, normally confined inside protons and neutrons, can move through a much larger volume. Studying these collisions helps us understand how the strong force shapes matter under extreme conditions.
These are busy collisions! Each collision can create tens of thousands of particles to be recorded. This then creates challenge in how to select and record the data effectively. Collecting the data takes a huge team effort. The accelerator, detector and computing systems must work together, with people around the clock keeping everything running and checking the quality of the recorded collisions. We’re proud that our group (specifically Yilun Wu and Preston White with Luna Chen and other Vanderbilt members) could play a part in this success.
This was the last data-taking period of Run 3, before a major shutdown to upgrade the LHC and its experiments for the High-Luminosity LHC.
The collisions have stopped, but there is plenty of physics ahead. We look forward to digging into the data!
Congratulations and thank you to everyone who made the run possible!