In a stunning breakthrough at CERN, scientists from the ALICE experiment have achieved a modern form of alchemy by transforming lead into gold inside the world’s most powerful particle collider, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This fascinating feat, reported in Physical Review Journals, sheds new light on the potential of high-energy physics to manipulate atomic nuclei in ways previously thought impossible.
The Ancient Dream of Alchemy
For centuries, alchemists dreamed of transmuting base metals like lead into the more precious gold—a process known as chrysopoeia. While ancient alchemists failed to make this dream a reality through chemical means, modern science has discovered that nuclear processes can indeed change one element into another. However, unlike alchemists’ mystical beliefs, this transformation requires high-energy physics and sophisticated technology.
A New Type of Alchemy
The process used by CERN’s ALICE experiment is a quantum leap from traditional chemistry. Rather than simply changing the chemical structure of lead, the researchers used high-energy collisions between lead nuclei. When two lead nuclei collide at speeds nearing the speed of light—99.999993% to be precise—the electromagnetic fields around the nuclei become intensely compressed. In this rare event, the lead atoms don’t collide head-on but pass so closely that their electromagnetic forces trigger changes at the atomic level, including the transformation of lead into gold.
Photon Bursts and Nucleus Reactions
The key to this nuclear transmutation lies in the photon bursts emitted during these near-miss interactions. As lead nuclei, which contain 82 protons, travel at incredible speeds, they generate electromagnetic fields that squash the field lines into a thin pancake. This configuration produces short-lived pulses of photons that interact with the nuclei, exciting their internal structures. These interactions lead to the emission of protons and neutrons, and through a precise loss of three protons from a lead nucleus, gold (which has 79 protons) is created.
Counting Gold in a Particle Collider
The ALICE team used specialized detectors known as zero degree calorimeters (ZDC) to measure the interactions where photons excited nuclei and resulted in the emission of protons and neutrons, corresponding to the creation of various elements. Notably, gold atoms were produced at a rate of approximately 89,000 nuclei per second during lead–lead collisions. However, these gold nuclei had very high energy and existed for only a fraction of a second before disintegrating into other particles.
The Fleeting Nature of Gold
While the experiment produced a staggering 86 billion gold nuclei during Run 2 of the LHC (from 2015–2018), this amounted to a total mass of only 29 picograms—about 2.9 × 10^-11 grams. This tiny amount of gold, though scientifically significant, is far too minuscule to create even a single piece of jewelry. Still, the success of this experiment serves as proof that the ancient alchemists’ dream has come true, albeit without the riches they envisioned.
Improving Collider Physics
Beyond the novelty of gold creation, the results of this study provide valuable insights into nuclear processes, including electromagnetic dissociation. The findings help refine theoretical models of these processes, which have broader applications for understanding and predicting beam losses in the LHC. This research could play a pivotal role in enhancing the performance of the LHC and future particle colliders.
In the end, while gold may not be available for jewelry anytime soon, CERN’s experiment marks a significant milestone in the study of nuclear physics and the manipulation of atomic nuclei at unprecedented speeds.
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