Research News
Looking at the ALICE experiment at the Research Centre CERN in Geneva. Photo: M. Brice/CERN
More information:
www.helmholtz.de/gsi-alice-schwere-ionen
More information:
Heavy Ions in ALICE
In early November, heavy lead ions were for the first time successfully accelerated and collided in the LHC. The pre-accelerator for heavy ions was developed and built at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research. GSI physicists are involved in the experiment ALICE, where reactions between heavy ions at high energy levels are measured. The energy transaction during a central impact of atomic nuclei is 15 times higher than the present best record at the accelerator RHIC in Brookhaven, USA. "By colliding the atomic nuclei of lead we aim to recreate the extremely hot and dense plasma condition of quark and gluon matter as it existed during the first few split seconds after the Big Bang for a few tiny moments", explains Professor Peter Braun-Munzinger, Director of the ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI at the GSI Helmholtz Centre.
