Physics of the Universe

Brookhaven has long been a leader in particle physics experiments at the Lab and around the globe that probe the deepest secrets of the universe. In this quest, physicists tackle some of the most pressing questions about the nature of matter and the world around us, including:

Brookhaven seeks to help answer these questions by achieving intellectual and technical leadership in experiments at three physics frontiers:

Energy Frontier

• Brookhaven is the U.S. host laboratory for the ATLAS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (Switzerland/France) and also is a key player in ATLAS computing, data analysis, and detector performance. BNL physicists will advance these efforts as the LHC collides protons at ever-increasing energies, and will assist in the hunt for supersymmetric particles — a leading candidate for dark matter and hidden symmetries.
• Following on the laboratory’s long tradition of innovative developments in accelerator science and technology, BNL scientists are a driving force in the conceptual development of a muon collider — a potential next-generation accelerator that would pursue a precision understanding of physics and early-universe symmetries beyond the Standard Model.  

Intensity Frontier

• As a partner in the Daya Bay Neutrino Experiment in China, BNL builds on its historical strength in the physics of neutrinos — uncharged elementary particles that “oscillate,” or switch, between three types. Daya Bay will try to measure the unknown parameter θ13 that characterizes mixing between the lightest and heaviest neutrinos. 
• BNL researchers will further explore neutrino properties with the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment, which will send a beam of neutrinos from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory in South Dakota. Brookhaven is leading the development of a water Cerenkov detector for this experiment, which will explore the role neutrinos might have played in establishing the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in our universe.

Cosmology Frontier

• Brookhaven is leading the development of a multi-gigapixel focal plane detector for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a huge telescope in Chile designed to image the entire visible southern sky. Based on the data collected from LSST and precursor studies, BNL researchers will help determine the dark matter distribution in the universe and the nature of dark energy. See details about Brookhaven's contribution to LSST's camera.

To maintain and advance this suite of projects, Brookhaven must work closely with the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation as well as with leading science institutions around the world.

Brookhaven is the U.S. host laboratory for the ATLAS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN