BERLIN (AP) – The world’s biggest particle accelerator is back in action after a two-year shutdown and upgrade, embarking on a new mission that scientists hope could give them a look into the unseen dark universe.
Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, on Sunday shot two particle beams through the Large Hadron Collider’s 27-kilometer (16.8-mile) tunnel, beneath the Swiss-French border near Geneva.
CERN wrote on its website that “the startup is complete!”
The collider was instrumental in the discovery of the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle that had long been theorized but never confirmed until 2013.
Scientists are promising nearly twice the energy and more violent particle crashes this time around, starting as early as June. They hope for a first ever glimpse of dark matter, one of the chief focuses of the experiment.