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Curiouser and curiouser: a riddle at the ALICE detector

12/09/25

Sarah Charley

In 2023, the ALICE experiment was ready for their best year yet, until a mysterious signal threatened everything. As the LHC wraps up its 2025 lead-ion run, physicists recall how they worked together to solve the puzzle.

09/01/06

The rise and fall of the pentaquark

Although initial results were encouraging, physicists searching for an exotic five-quark particle now think it probably doesn't exist. The debate over the pentaquark search shows how science moves forward.

09/01/06

New life for a linac

How the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center is transforming the world's longest linear accelerator into a novel X-ray laser.

09/01/06

Zoo events

When physicists at Fermilab smash particles together, most of what comes out of the collisions is well understood. But every once in awhile strange things appear in the data—incidents popularly known as zoo events.

09/01/06

The pentaquark rush

In 2003, results published by three experimental collaborations initiated a flood of papers about a class of particles known as pentaquarks.

09/01/06

Packing it in

Globe-traveling physicists put some of their best thinking into strategies for their bags–all carry-ons, of course.

09/01/06

Brookhaven highlights unity

Flags, arts and crafts from different nations, and a warm welcome transformed the DOE Brookhaven Site Office's Second Annual Unity Day into a celebration of people and cultures working together.

09/01/06

Particle Jeopardy

Next time you watch the Jeopardy quiz show on TV, don't be surprised if you learn about a particle physics experiment at Fermilab.

09/01/06

Robert Straight: Toroids and plaids

Pick a number: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109, 113 and so on and on and onand on. Get the picture?

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