One of the events determined by the AI algorithm to be highly anomalous and therefore potentially coming from a new particle. The central jet shows particles clustered around two different cores within the cone, a configuration distinct from a…

  In quantum electrodynamics (QED), the quantum theory of electromagnetic interactions, the magnetic dipole moment of a particle acquires quantum corrections originating from interactions with virtual photons and other particles, often referred…

The Higgs boson was one of the biggest scientific discoveries of the last decades and opened the doors to a new era for particle physics: unveiling its mysteries and measuring its properties. We already know a lot about how the Higgs boson is…

More than a decade after the discovery of the Higgs boson, we still expect this particle to give us first-hand information about theories that can solve some of the shortcomings of the standard model of particle physics (SM). For example, the…

In the same way that loud background noise does not allow us to listen to a conversation or appreciate a piece of music, so too the CMS detector needs a quiet environment to optimize data taking and analysis.   New shielding has been…

In this short series, we look at the different types of tests and steps needed for CMS to run at the precision the experiment requires. Find part 1 here! Part 2 First Beam Arrives So far, the only tests and alignments that have taken place have…

It is compelling to picture large physics labs with lots of sparks and heavy levers that wake up big, important experiments with sparks and loud bangs. Even if this were the case, CMS is too big and too complex to be started up by a simple pull of a…

Event display for a potential SUEP event, recorded at CMS in 2018, showing the characteristically high multiplicity of soft tracks in yellow. Could there be a “dark world“ composed of invisible particles held together by a new strong dark force,…

Neutron stars, ultra-cold atomic gasses, and the quark-gluon plasma… You may find them totally unrelated but, surprisingly enough, they share a common feature: a fluid-like state of matter containing strongly interacting particles! An insight into…

A proton-proton collision at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded by CMS, compatible with the production of a Higgs boson decaying to a J/ψ meson, which decays to two muons (red lines), and a high-energy photon (green box, top). Try to zoom…

The universe is governed by four known fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force. The strong force is responsible for dynamics on an extremely small scale, within and between the individual nucleons of…

The main goal of the LHC physics programme is to deeply understand the fundamental principles of particles and their interactions. As part of this quest, physicists are searching for evidence of new particles, which would potentially confirm the…