CERN, the European particle physics lab, has approved a new project called Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) which aims to uncover undiscovered particles.
While the Standard Model of particle physics explains a lot, there are still unexplained phenomena like dark matter, antimatter imbalance, and neutrino masses that suggest unseen particles.
SHiP will use a high-intensity proton beam fired at a fixed metal target to produce particle collisions. Any long-lived undiscovered particles could be detected as they decay or scatter from electrons/nuclei.
This allows probing the “intensity frontier” with more potential interactions than the LHC. It could reveal particles never seen before and help solve open problems in physics.
Construction begins in 2027 with hopes to collect data by 2030. Detecting proposed particles like dark photons, axions, heavy neutral leptons could help explain dark matter, matter-antimatter imbalance, and neutrino properties.
SHiP offers a unique opportunity to make major discoveries complementary to the LHC’s energy frontier experiments through its precision intensity frontier approach.
Source: popularmechanics
