Large Hadron Collider, CERN

Large Hadron Collider (LHC), showing complex connections between individual magnet chambers. The LHC is a 27-kilometre-long high-energy particle accelerator located at CERN (the European particle physics laboratory) in Switzerland. It uses rings of superconducting magnets to accelerate two counter-rotating beams of protons to an energy of 7 teraelectronvolts (TeV). It then forces these beams to collide head-on near two main detectors, known as the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) and ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus), which detect the sub-atomic particles resulting from the collision. The LHC is scheduled to start operating in summer 2008 and will endeavour to probe the inner structure of matter, in order to explain the origin of matter, dark matter and the mysteries of the early universe.