General Information

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  • LHC tunnel
  • ATLAS detector
  • ATLAS detector
  • RACF
  • BNL built superconducting magnets

Brookhaven & the LHC

The world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland, opens new avenues to explore the deepest mysteries of the Universe. In addition to serving as the U.S. host laboratory for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, the Brookhaven National Laboratory plays multiple roles in this international undertaking, from construction and project management to data storage and distribution.

ATLAS rendering

Brookhaven and ATLAS

Brookhaven physicists and engineers are participating in one of the most ambitious scientific projects in the world—helping to operate a machine the size of a seven-story building that will open new frontiers in the human pursuit of knowledge about elementary particles and their interactions. The machine, dubbed ATLAS, is designed to detect particles created by proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. One of its main goals is to look for a particle dubbed Higgs, which may be the source of mass for all matter. Findings also may offer insight into new physics theories as well as a better understanding of the origin of the universe. More...

Design & Construction

Brookhaven scientists and engineers designed and constructed 20 of the 1,200 superconducting magnets for the LHC and built key parts of the ATLAS detector. More...

Computing

Brookhaven National Lab is the sole Tier-1 computing facility for ATLAS in the United States – and the largest ATLAS computing center worldwide.
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Future Upgrades

Much of the work for the U.S. LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP) uses Brookhaven’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) as a “test bed” for the beam-based development of devices destined for the LHC. More..