The LHC Might Have Created The Smallest Drop Of Liquid Ever
CMS The Compact Muon Solenoid, one of the two large particle physics detectors on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. CERN A tiny drop could have big implications for our understanding of particle collisions. Over the past few months, the Large Hadron Collider has been ramming protons and lead ions together in the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS), one of its particle detectors. After each collision, some of the newly produced particles zoom away together like a school of fish, in a scientific puzzle called the "ridge effect," rather than bouncing off in all directions. When heavy ions like lead collide with each other, the ensuing particles are borne off by a drop of plasma, but it's unclear if that's what's happening when lead ions collide with lighter protons. The results from LHC's tests, submitted to Physics Letters B last week, suggest that it's the same effect. If accurate, the teensy drop...