Finding Another God Particle? The Large Hadron Collider is Back Online!

The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, as it is known, has restarted this week in Switzerland after a two year hiatus for rebuilding and refitting. The facility conducts particle beam experiments and is famous for identifying the Higgs Boson particle, or “God particle,” in 2012, thought to be the source of the universe’s creation.

Cern’s director for accelerators and technology, Frédérick Bordry, said: “After two years of effort, the LHC is in great shape. “But the most important step is still to come when we increase the energy of the beams to new record levels.”

The BBC has reported that “particle beams have now travelled in both directions, inside parallel pipes, at a whisker below the speed of light. Actual collisions will not begin for at least another month, but they will take place with nearly double the energy the LHC reached during its first run.”

According to Forbes, some of the things that the Large Hadron Collider will be looking for during its next round of experiments will be more information about the Higgs boson and how it works. Scientists at CERN will also be trying to create the particles that are hypothesized to make up dark matter as well as evidence for the first supersymmetric particle .