Lead ions and Coulomb’s Law at the LHC (CERN)

Abstract

Although for most of the time the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN collides protons, for around one month every year lead ions are collided, to expand the diversity of the LHC research programme. Furthermore, in an effort not originally foreseen, proton-lead collisions are also taking place, with results of high interest to the physics community. All the large experiments of the LHC have now joined the heavy-ion programme, including the LHCb experiment, which was not at first expected to be part of it. The aim of this article is to introduce a few simple physical calculations relating to some electrical phenomena that occur when lead-ion bunches are running in the LHC, using Coulomb’s Law, to be taken to the secondary school classroom to help students understand some important physical concepts.