The Underground Area 2 (UA2) experiment was a high-energy physics experiment at the Proton-Antiproton Collider — a modification of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) — at CERN. The experiment ran from 1981 until 1990, and its main objective was to discover the W and Z bosons. UA2, together with the UA1 experiment, succeeded in discovering these particles in 1983, leading to the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physics being awarded to Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer. The UA2 experiment also observed the first evidence for jet production in hadron collisions in 1981, and was involved in the searches of the top quark and of supersymmetric particles. Pierre Darriulat was the spokesperson of UA2 from 1981 to 1986, followed by Luigi Di Lella from 1986 to 1990.
Two-photon physics, also called gamma–gamma physics, is a branch of particle physics that describes the interactions between two photons. Normally, beams of light pass through each other unperturbed. Inside an optical material, and if the intensity of the beams is high enough, the beams may affect each other through a variety of non-linear effects. In pure vacuum, some weak scattering of light by light exists as well. Also, above some threshold of this center-of-mass energy of the system of the two photons, matter can be created.
The ISR was a particle accelerator at CERN. It was the world's first hadron collider, and ran from 1971 to 1984, with a maximum center of mass energy of 62 GeV. From its initial startup, the collider itself had the capability to produce particles like the J/ψ and the upsilon, as well as observable jet structure; however, the particle detector experiments were not configured to observe events with large momentum transverse to the beamline, leaving these discoveries to be made at other experiments in the mid-1970s. Nevertheless, the construction of the ISR involved many advances in accelerator physics, including the first use of stochastic cooling, and it held the record for luminosity at a hadron collider until surpassed by the Tevatron in 2004.
The DØ experiment was a worldwide collaboration of scientists conducting research on the fundamental nature of matter. DØ was one of two major experiments located at the Tevatron Collider at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois. The Tevatron was the world's highest-energy accelerator from 1983 until 2009, when its energy was surpassed by the Large Hadron Collider. The DØ experiment stopped taking data in 2011, when the Tevatron shut down, but data analysis is still ongoing. The DØ detector is preserved in Fermilab's DØ Assembly Building as part of a historical exhibit for public tours.
The LHCf is a special-purpose Large Hadron Collider experiment for astroparticle physics, and one of nine detectors in the LHC accelerator at CERN. LHCf is designed to study the particles generated in the forward region of collisions, those almost directly in line with the colliding proton beams.
CDHS was a neutrino experiment at CERN taking data from 1976 until 1984. The experiment was officially referred to as WA1. CDHS was a collaboration of groups from CERN, Dortmund, Heidelberg, Saclay and later Warsaw. The collaboration was led by Jack Steinberger. The experiment was designed to study deep inelastic neutrino interactions in iron.
The NA49 experiment was a particle physics experiment that investigated the properties of quark–gluon plasma. The experiment's synonym was Ions/TPC-Hadrons. It took place in the North Area of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN from 1991-2002.
The Antiproton Accumulator (AA) was an infrastructure connected to the Proton–Antiproton Collider – a modification of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) – at CERN. The AA was built in 1979 and 1980, for the production and accumulation of antiprotons. In the SppS the antiprotons were made to collide with protons, achieving collisions at a center of mass energy of app. 540 GeV. Several experiments recorded data from the collisions, most notably the UA1 and UA2 experiment, where the W and Z bosons were discovered in 1983.
Luigi Di Lella is an Italian experimental particle physicist. He has been a staff member at CERN for over 40 years, and has played an important role in major experiments at CERN such as CAST and UA2. From 1986 to 1990 he acted as spokesperson for the UA2 Collaboration, which, together with the UA1 Collaboration, discovered the W and Z bosons in 1983.
Pierre Darriulat is a French experimental particle physicist. As staff member at CERN, he contributed in several prestigious experiments. He was the spokesperson of the UA2 collaboration from 1981 to 1986, during which time the UA2 collaboration, together with the UA1 collaboration, discovered the W and Z bosons in 1983.
The Super Proton–Antiproton Synchrotron was a particle accelerator that operated at CERN from 1981 to 1991. To operate as a proton-antiproton collider the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) underwent substantial modifications, altering it from a one beam synchrotron to a two-beam collider. The main experiments at the accelerator were UA1 and UA2, where the W and Z bosons were discovered in 1983. Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer received the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physics for their contributions to the SppS-project, which led to the discovery of the W and Z bosons. Other experiments conducted at the SppS were UA4, UA5 and UA8.
The UA5 experiment was the first experiment conducted at the Proton-Antiproton Collider, a collider using the infrastructure of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The experiment was approved in February 1979, as a collaboration between CERN and the universities of Bonn, Brussels, Cambridge and Stockholm. The spokesperson of the UA5 collaboration was John Rushbrooke.
UA4 experiment (COULOMB) was a high-energy physics experiment at the Proton-Antiproton Collider at CERN. The UA4 collaboration consisted of physicists from Amsterdam, Genova, Napoli, Pisa, Roma, California and CERN. UA4 was approved on 18 January 1979, and the first phase of data taking lasted until 17 June 1985. The spokesperson of UA4 was Giorgi Matthiae.
UA8 experiment was a high-energy physics experiment at the Proton-Antiproton Collider at CERN. The proposal for the experiment was done by physicists at the University of California, and it was approved in April 1985. Its spokesperson was Peter Schlein.
The CPLEAR experiment used the antiproton beam of the LEAR facility - Low-Energy Antiproton Ring which operated at CERN from 1982 to 1996 - to produce neutral kaons through proton-antiproton annihilation in order to study CP, T and CPT violation in the neutral kaon system.
Emanuele Quercigh is an Italian particle physicist who works since 1964 at CERN, most known for the discovery of quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Quercigh moved as a child to Friuli with his mother and his younger brother after the early death of his father. Quercigh studied physics at the University of Milan in Italy, where he became assistant of professor Giuseppe Occhialini in 1959.
Harold Matthew Spinka Jr. was an American physicist, specializing in experimental particle physics.
The Underground Area 3 (UA3) experiment was a high-energy physics experiment at the Proton-Antiproton Collider, a modification of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), at CERN. The experiment ran from 1978 to 1988 with the objective of searching for magnetic monopoles. No evidence for magnetic monopoles was found by the UA3 experiment.
The Underground Area 7 (UA7) experiment was a high-energy physics experiment at the Proton-Antiproton Collider, a modification of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), at CERN. The purpose of the experiment was to measure the invariant cross section of photons and neutral pions (π0) emitted close to zero degrees, by using silicon shower detectors. The experiment data taking ran from 1985 to 1986, and the final analysis was completed in 1996.
