Physicists working at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, LHC for short, have encountered some unexpected guests in their quest to find the “God Particle“. UFOs are interfering with this high-powered research, according to a report by Live Science. These UFOs are not the extraterrestrial kind, however. They are unidentified falling objects.
The LHC is a 17-mile-long particle accelerator designed to slam opposing beams of protons into each other at near-light speed. Once these protons collide, they produce a brilliant display of subatomic particles. Scientists hope to use this method to find the ever elusive “God Particle” which is thought to be what gives elements their mass.
Lately, researchers have discovered that something is getting in the way of these collisions, essentially dampening the blow between the protons. These UFOs are thought to be some type of microscopic dust particle and, as long as they are around to interfere, scientists will likely never find the results they’re looking for. Tobias Baer, a physicist working at the LHC, wrote that UFOs are “one of the major known limitations for the performance of the Large Hadron Collider”. Apparently, between April and August of this year, there were 10,000 UFO events. Some even caused “beam dumps” which is when the beam actually shuts down.
Scientists will continue to research the cause of these UFOs in hopes of devising a plan to eliminate them. In the meantime, you might want to read more about the LHC. Enjoy these great articles by our own Debjyoti Bardhan.