The ATLAS collaboration is one of the biggest scientific projects ever, with more than 5,500 members across 40 countries.
Just days after Ireland confirmed its associate membership of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Munster Technological University (MTU) is announcing its role in one of the world’s largest scientific experiments at the renowned facility.
MTU has joined the ATLAS collaboration as a technical associate institute – the first in Ireland – to work on a major particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This flagship project helped discover the Higgs boson particle in 2012.
The ATLAS detector records high-energy particle collisions of the LHC, which take place at a rate of more than one billion interactions per second in the centre of the detector. More than 100m sensitive electronics channels are used to record the particles produced by the collisions, which are then analysed by ATLAS scientists.
MTU is focused on engineering critical systems for the detector as it prepares for its upcoming ‘high-luminosity’ phase – a critical upgrade to the LHC which aims to “probe the structure of matter and its interactions more deeply than ever before”.
MTU’s Dr Manuel Caballero and his team are building and testing the electrical panels and cables that will deliver power to the upgraded detectors, where every component must function to avoid disrupting experiments.
While Paddy McGowan and his team at MTU are designing the delicate mechanical supports that will hold thousands of sensors, along with the cooling pipes and cables, all operating under extreme conditions deep underground. MTU is also contributing to the design of the core cooling system for these detectors.
In the years ahead, ATLAS collaborators, of which there are more than 5,500, hope to use the upgraded systems to push the frontiers of knowledge and explore fundamental questions about the origins of the universe, dark matter and why it exists.
“MTU’s innovative engineering expertise will be a tremendous asset as we prepare for the high-luminosity phase of the LHC,” said ATLAS spokesperson and CERN physicist Andreas Hoecker.
“MTU is the first Irish research institution to join ATLAS, marking an exciting milestone.”
Dr Niall Smith, head of research and CERN-ATLAS lead at MTU, said that this work is about more than engineering. “This is about giving Irish staff, students and industry the chance to be part of one of humanity’s greatest scientific quests.”
Dr Seán McSweeney, MTU dean of engineering, is deputy lead on the project, with support from the Nimbus Research Centre and the Department of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Biomedical Engineering.
MTU’s involvement is inspiring the next generation of Irish scientists and engineers to dream bigger than ever before, the team said.
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