&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Why has the Large Hadron Collider shut down? When will it restart and other details")
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and most powerful atom smasher, has been shut down for four years. When it comes back in 2030, it will be called High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HiLumi LHC). The upgrades will allow it to smash together roughly 10 times more particles than its original design. "This is a very important moment. From Monday, we will be entering a new phase," HiLumi LHC project chief Markus Zerlauth told AFP.
What does the Large Hadron Collider do?
It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008, and covers a 27-kilometre loop in an underground tunnel at the border between France and Switzerland near Geneva. Its main use has been to understand the universe as it existed just a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. It is like a giant cosmic time machine and microscope that works to study the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Scientists have used it to test theories about particle physics and the Standard Model of the subatomic world.
The LHC pushes the protons until they are travelling at 99.9999991% the speed of light, and they move around the ring more than 11,000 times per second. At four specific points around the ring, the proton beams collide head-on. The LHC triggers 1 billion particle collisions per second.
The biggest achievement of the LHC has been the discovery of the elusive "God Particle", or the Higgs boson, in 2012. The Higgs boson is the physical manifestation of the Higgs field, an invisible background grid that permeates space and gives all other fundamental particles their mass. It tests how the universe works.
How will the upgrade change the Large Hadron Collider?
Trending Stories
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
National Handloom Day 2026: From Alia Bhatt to Samantha Ruth Prabhu; Actresses who celebrated India's textile heritage as brides
)
The Royals enter the Doctor Who universe: King Charles and Queen Camilla beam into Commonwealth Games in TARDIS
)
Unitree Robotics targets $9 billion valuation in landmark IPO backed by DeepSeek and Tencent
)
India names 27 sites in Arunachal Pradesh
)
Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata OTT: When will Kangana Ranaut's film stream online?
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
How many soldiers operate one S-400 battery?
)
Shakib Al Hasan ready to return to Bangladesh—under one condition
)
‘Fake news’: MEA rejects report claiming India sought defence pact with Israel after Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey deal
)
Rockstar to unveil GTA 6 extended look ahead of November launch
)
Russia forms Ukrainian Volunteer Spetsnaz Brigade to fight Ukraine
)
Drug-resistant fungus that hides in hair and enters bloodstream reported in 23 US states
)
Technology transfer deal boosts India's defence manufacturing ambitions
)
Border row erupts in Europe after Ceuta crossings, Spain imposes border controls on Italy
)
Morale plummets on USS Abraham Lincoln: Are US sailors reaching a breaking point? | GRAVITAS
)
'Security can't be bought with Pakistan, Turkey deal': Iran tells Saudi Arabia
)
Baba Vanga's 2026 prophecy: 2 predictions 'already came true', 3 terrifying ones remain. Details inside
)
Colombia’s new president Abelardo de la Espriella vows to ‘defeat narco-terrorists’, signals hardline shift
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
New Friday OTT releases (August 7, 2026): Operation Safed Sagar, Vadhandhi, Main Vaapis Aaunga- 6 movies and TV shows on Netflix, Prime Video and more
)
Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth scripts history as Indian Air Force gets its first woman ‘Top Gun’ pilot
)
RSS says Gen Z protests reflect genuine distress
)
Trump says Iranian school bombing photos could be AI-generated - 'I don’t think...'
)
IAF officer held for sharing sensitive information in 'honey trap' case, booked under Official Secrets Act
)
Stray Kids under scrutiny? Fans react to Grammy submission silence after BTS boycott
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
Why the Su-30MKI doesn't need external fuel tanks to fly vast distances
)
Jugal Hansraj reunites with Shekhar Kapur after 40 years for Masoom: The Next Generation
)
New speed limits, automatic challans: Big traffic change coming to Delhi-Meerut Expressway. All you need to know
)
India officially names 27 places in Arunachal to counter China's renaming claims
)
Trump calls White House ballroom ruling a 'national disgrace' as court says Congress approval needed
)
US sanctions Iran’s crypto network after Strait of Hormuz attacks, offers $15m bounty for intel on IRGC finance
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
Why the Su-30MKI is one of the heaviest fighters ever built
)
Uttarakhand young innovator builds India's own flying vehicle, conducts first test flight: WATCH
)
Chilling video shows students take cover as teen opens fire at Thai school
)
Reese Witherspoon's father hospitalised after poolside incident in Nashville: Report
Dubbed the Long Shutdown 3 (LS3), this four-year interval will see scientists adding upgrades to boost the collider's luminosity by a factor of 10. This will increase the number of particle collisions by nearly three times. The improvements will allow scientists to study the Higgs boson and other phenomena in more detail. The experiments will produce more data, and the odds of observing rare events will increase. Till now, it has produced 55 million Higgs bosons till now, but the upgrades will lead to the creation of 380 million Higgs bosons over a decade.
What Large Hadron Collider aims to answer?
The scientists are looking for clues beyond current physics now. The upgraded collider will be used to answer three main questions: What is Dark Matter? Why does the universe only consist of matter when the Big Bang should have produced equal amounts of matter and antimatter, a moment which would have ended everything? Third, whether more hidden dimensions exist beyond the three we experience.
It has been switched off twice before, in 2013 and 2018. This will be its third and last upgrade after which its operational lifespan ends in the 2040s. It will be replaced by a new, higher-energy particle accelerator.
