Editorial use only. This image may not be used to state or imply endorsement by CERN of any product, activity or service High-energy collision of a le

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Editorial use only. This image may not be used to state or imply endorsement by CERN of any product, activity or service High-energy collision of a lead ion & the nucleus of a lead atom. In this electronic display from the NA49 experiment at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory outside Geneva, a lead ion has come in from bottom left & collided with an atomic nucleus in a target of lead to produce a spray of subatomic particles. The lead ion has been accelerated to an energy of 32 TeV (32 tera- electronvolts or 32000 GeV) in CERN's Super- Proton-Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator. In 1997, data like this at the NA 49 experiment produced some of the first evidence for production of the so-called quark-gluon plasma (QGP).

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Size: 3956px × 3933px
Photo credit: © CERN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: accelerator, cern, computer, display, electronic, experiment, gluon, heavy-ion, high-energy, ions, lead, matter, na49, nucleus, odyssey, particle, physics, plasma, proton, qgp, quark, quark-gluon, research, screen, sps, subatomic, super, synchrotron, tracks