IN BRIEF Cosmic rays: high-energy subatomic particles coming from space. Messengers of violent events in the universe. Composed mainly of protons and atomic nuclei. Create large showers of secondary particles upon their manifestation. Constantly bombard the Earth and impact our atmosphere. Represent one of the greatest dangers for astronauts in space exploration. Play a crucial … Read more
IN BRIEF Relativistic jets: ejections of matter at speeds close to that of light. Source: originating from accretion disks around black holes. Observation: monitoring a black hole for 15 years by an international team of astronomers. Power: the most powerful phenomena observed in astrophysics. Structure: jets maintain a narrow structure over vast distances. Rotation: the … Read more
IN BRIEF Neutrinos are nearly massless subatomic particles. They have no electric charge, making their identification complex. They act as messengers of cosmic phenomena. Neutrinos come from energetic events such as supernovae. They allow for a better understanding of astrophysical phenomena. These particles are more abundant than dark matter. Neutrino astronomy offers a complementary perspective … Read more
IN SHORT Existence of antimatter: minute quantities in the universe Particles and antiparticles: fundamental symmetry Issue of matter-antimatter imbalance after the Big Bang Absence of antimatter: one of the greatest mysteries of the universe Production of antimatter in the laboratory, notably at CERN Exorbitant cost of antimatter: precious and rare substance Properties of antimatter: transformation … Read more
IN SHORT Particle accelerators: essential devices for exploring nuclear physics and particle physics. CERN: home to the world’s largest circular accelerator. Used in various fields: fundamental research and science popularization. Current limitations: high cost, insufficient power, and fragility of existing accelerators. Past and ongoing experiments: exploration of elementary particles. Operation: acceleration of particle beams for … Read more
IN BRIEF 70 years of discoveries at CERN Discovery of W and Z bosons in 1983 Revolution in particle detection thanks to the multi-wire proportional chamber in 1968 Significant impact on the electroweak theory The Large Hadron Collider as a tool for fundamental exploration Advancements in particle physics and their societal applications Celebrations and new … Read more
IN BRIEF Detection of dark matter: innovative approach based on Josephson junctions. Exploration of gravitational waves to identify dark matter. Search for axions, potential candidates for dark matter, via their conversion into photons. Clear strategies: to do, see oneself undone, or look for its shakes. Study of neutron stars, potential keys in the detection of … Read more
IN BRIEF Elementary particles: fundamental units of matter. Quarks: components of protons and neutrons, grouped into hadrons. Leptons: particles such as electrons, without color charge. Standard model: theoretical framework encompassing particles and their interactions. Bosons: mediators of fundamental forces (e.g., the Higgs boson). Classification of particles into fermions (quarks and leptons) and bosons. Particle interaction: … Read more