Particle physics and the CMS experiment at CERN - with Kathryn Coldham

Find out more about the fascinating CMS experiment at CERN.

Watch the Q&A here (exclusively for our YouTube channel members:)

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment, a key component of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, played a pivotal role in verifying the existence of the Higgs Boson particle in collaboration with the ATLAS experiment in 2012.

As we ponder the achievements of this groundbreaking machine, CMS physicist Kathryn Coldham will help us explore its contemporary applications, as more than 5000 researchers worldwide utilise this leading-edge detector to unravel the hidden mysteries of our Universe at its tiniest scale.

In this talk, Kathryn explores the experiment's rich history, shedding light on the significant discoveries it has facilitated. She gives insights into the future of this remarkable endeavour as the LHC pushes the boundaries by colliding particles at unprecedented energy levels. Join us for a glimpse into the forefront of particle physics through the unique perspective of one of its leading researchers.

---

Kathryn Coldham is a particle physicist who worked for Princeton University and at CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – the largest particle accelerator in the world. She worked on the LHC’s CMS detector, which is situated 100 metres below the village of Cessy in France. Kathryn contributed to the development of an artificial intelligence algorithm for the detector’s trigger system, which is used to identify data that may contain signs of interesting physics. She was a member of the CMS Collaboration for over five years and graduated with an MSci in Physics at Queen Mary University of London in 2018.

---

Product links on this page may be affiliate links which means it won't cost you any extra but we may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase through the link.

[nickjohnson]

This is the most understandable explanation of the equipment at CERN that I've come across.
Definitely worth the watch.

[AcidOllie]

Wow this was absolutely fascinating to listen to. I've always been interested in what goes on at CERN. I could talk to her for days about it. I expect she would get bored of explaining it after a while though and a lot of it wouldn't compute in my empty skull. I don't think there are many particles bouncing around in my head anymore.

[bikashsubedi]

That zoom in perspective 6:43 is so cool, depecting how small yet so significantly awesome place to be in.

[UdiDol]

A very illustrative lecture. A layman would understand the basics of the methodology of investigating the sub atomic particles reaching beyond the atoms. You never feel boring as she nicely take you through real-time examples for comparison so that you are there in the reality. This lecture gave a great perspective of the present day experiments and future expectations of the scientist. Above all, it gave the audience the feeling that this is a collective endeavour not limited to physicists. The sharing of data with the public is also an impressive move as any University or an institute can make use of this data and postulate and prove possible solutions to the open ended questions about matter, subatomic particles and any relationship between the energy and matter. May be some day some analyst of this data stream will find out the relationship of matter with gravity. Furthering this would be the mind-matter transformation, if that can be coupled with the gravity existence through the space in our Universe. The investment on the FCC will be definity a just cause and if the scientists and data analysts find any relationship between the matter and brilliance of the Mind, that will be the next step of Human Development, the Quantum Entanglement being explored. Thanks a lot!

[ME-zulg]

Beautifully done! Love the zoom-in visualization!

[MyEyeofHorus]

Really cool visualisation using CG at the start there!

This gives such a good idea about what is _actually_ going on.

[zack_]

Wow, sooo impressed by the exciting discoveries of new particles at LHC 🎉🎉🎉

[Neceros]

🎯 Key points for quick navigation:

00:00 *🎤 Kathryn Coldham introduces herself and the CMS experiment at CERN.*
00:38 *👩‍🔬 She began working at CERN at age 17 and studied physics at Queen Mary University.*
01:14 *🌍 CERN is a European organization for nuclear research, established in 1954 to reunite countries after WWII.*
01:45 *🤝 CERN has grown from 12 to 23 member states with associates and observers outside Europe.*
02:24 *🔬 Particle physics studies tiny particles that are the building blocks of the universe.*
03:26 *🧬 Zooming into matter reveals atoms, nuclei, protons, and ultimately quarks—elementary particles.*
04:22 *📊 The Standard Model describes all elementary particles and their interactions.*
04:56 *⚛️ Introduces force carriers: photon, W and Z bosons, and gluon, which mediate fundamental forces.*
05:25 *🏆 W and Z bosons were discovered at CERN in 1983.*
05:55 *💪 The strong nuclear force is immensely strong, 10 times stronger than gravity.*
06:31 *🚀 CERN uses a series of accelerators to overcome strong forces and accelerate particles.*
07:01 *⚙️ Particle acceleration begins with hydrogen atoms stripped of electrons to produce protons.*
08:41 *🌌 The Large Hadron Collider accelerates particles to near light speed for collisions.*
09:20 *🕵️ Introduction to the CMS detector, a general-purpose detector studying various physics phenomena.*
09:50 *🔍 CMS stands for Compact Muon Solenoid; 'Compact' because it packs a lot into a small space.*
10:23 *🚌 Size comparisons: CMS is 15 meters high, equivalent to 3.5 double-decker buses stacked.*
12:06 *⚖️ CMS weighs 14, 000 tonnes, heavier than the Eiffel Tower's 10, 000 tonnes.*
14:57 *🏗️ CMS was built by assembling components above ground and lowering them underground in slices.*
17:05 *🛠️ The CMS detector has multiple layers, each designed to detect different types of particles.*
20:13 *🔄 Explanation of how various particles are detected and identified within CMS.*
21:21 *📏 The proton beam is extremely small, about 2 millimeters wide, containing billions of protons.*
24:10 *💡 The electromagnetic calorimeter uses crystals to measure particle energy via emitted light.*
25:08 *🧲 The solenoid magnet generates a powerful 4 Tesla magnetic field to bend particle paths.*
26:07 *🗄️ A trigger system manages and reduces the vast amount of data generated by collisions.*
28:26 *🏅 The Higgs boson was discovered in 2012 by CMS and ATLAS, confirming its role in particle mass.*
29:59 *🔄 CMS uses event reconstruction to identify original particles from detected final state particles.*
30:31 *🕵️ The Higgs boson was predicted to have a mass of 125 GeV, 125 times that of a proton.*
31:05 *📈 Discovery confirmed by data fluctuation at 125 GeV observed by both ATLAS and CMS experiments.*
31:36 *🔬 Since discovering the Higgs, CMS has made precise measurements and observed new particle combinations like TWZ and tetraquarks.*
32:38 *👥 The CMS collaboration involves nearly 6, 000 people from around 60 countries working together.*
33:46 *❓ The Standard Model is incomplete; particles like the graviton and dark matter particles remain undiscovered.*
35:11 *🚧 The LHC is being upgraded to the High Luminosity LHC, increasing collision energies to 14 TeV by 2029.*
36:14 *🛠️ CMS will undergo significant upgrades, including a new high-granularity calorimeter and improved trigger systems.*
36:45 *🔮 Future plans include the proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC) to achieve 100 TeV collision energies.*
37:48 *🌀 A Muon Collider is another option, potentially reaching higher energies due to muons' properties.*
38:48 *💼 Various opportunities exist to get involved with CERN, including jobs, internships, and outreach.*
39:18 *🏛️ You can visit the CMS detector in person and explore its underground facilities.*
39:48 *💻 CMS has released open data for public analysis using coding languages like Python and C++.*
40:22 *🌐 CMS offers resources like physics briefings and is active on social media for public engagement.*
40:56 *❤️ Kathryn dedicates her lecture to her friend Natasha Hehir, encouraging donations to Cancer Research UK.*

[RichardIresonMusician]

How many and what type of particles carry on down the tube or are deflected back along the tube after collision? Surely these would not be detected by CMS?

[FARDEEN.MUSTAFA]

It was a great lecture about Particle Physics.

[leighcoulson]

Great, especially when getting to the more detailed information on the construction, LHC components and their function ...and probably most importantly the experiments.

[DACMCU_INC]

Thank you for sharing your findings with the public as a public servant. It is much appreciated. The muon could be the perturbation of space(bosons, fields, dark matter/dark energy) and be approximately relative to the energy of the particle collisions depending on how much collisions were achieved. And according to your diagram of the collisions and detections, and the explanations of the diagram, the muon's wave-like displacement seems opposite and equal to the collision energy, if the proton and electron scattering from the collisions are opposite and equal as well. Thank God the quarks didn't separate.

[gidi]

since you gave us a decomposition of atoms to smaller particles,
are there repeating "orders" or "scemes" when comparing one particle decomposition to smaller ones, with another particle decomposition to smaller ones?

[mrwideboy]

Love to see an east London accent giving physics lectures

[nickitachernovsky]

The lady is a bit nervous, but the lecture is fabulous overall! Thumbs up!

[MrJPI]

The standard LHC beam production and filling scheme foresaw 2808 bunches per ring with 288 bunches per injection from the SPS, and each bunch containing 1.15x1011 protons in a beam size of 3.5 micrometres. So about 3 micrometers instead of 3 millimeters !

[The.s]

I'm very impressed with translation. Thank you. You're amazing mate.b❤🎉

[Graham.W]

The Higgs Boson was predicted many years ago before being detected. Are there any other particles that have been predicted but not yet found excluding the geaviton?

[luvisreal]

Definitely gained a like from me.... Great video!!!

[brianmason]

Can anybody say how we know that Quarks are indivisible. We used to say that about larger 'particles' didn't we?