MCAST Institute of Engineering and Transport partners with CERN, advancing innovation and research

Nestled deep underground between the French and Swiss borders with the Jura Mountains in the distance, lies the largest machine ever built by man.  It is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with a circumference of 27 kilometres.  Within this machine, sub-atomic particles smash into each other at incredibly high speeds approaching 99.9999991% the speed of light, thus managing to complete 11,245 laps of the 27 km ring in one second.

The primary particle involved in the collisions is the proton, a hadron composed of quarks bound together by the strong nuclear force. This force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, alongside the gravitational, electromagnetic, and weak nuclear forces. The strong force is by far the strongest of the four, being 1.67x  times stronger than the force of gravity although it is only effective over short distances of around  meters which is approximately the diameter of a proton. If gravity were as strong as the strong nuclear force, all matter would collapse into extremely dense objects, likely forming black holes almost instantly. The delicate balance that allows stars, planets, and other structures to exist would be disrupted leading to a rapid collapse of the universe into a singularity.

Inside the LHC, once the particles collide, part of the kinetic energy which they carry is converted into mass following Einstein’s famous equation.  This energy to mass conversion produces particles, such as the Higgs Boson, which was discovered in 2012 in the LHC.  This particle, also known as “the God Particle” gives mass to other fundamental particles through its interactions with them. 

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a project of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) which is one of the world's largest and most respected centres for scientific research in particle physics.  Following the acceptance of the MCAST Institute of Engineering and Transport (IET) as an associate member institution in the ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) experiment at CERN on March 15, 2024, MCAST academics from the IET are now benefiting from active collaboration in the fields of engineering and physics alongside world leading scientists and engineers.

ALICE is a major experiment at CERN which is designed to study the properties of quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter believed to have existed just after the Big Bang. By colliding heavy ions like lead nuclei at extremely high energies, with speeds close to the speed of light, ALICE creates conditions similar to those present in the early universe. This experiment allows scientists to explore the fundamental properties of matter and the nature of the strong nuclear force that binds quarks and gluons together, acting as the most gigantic microscope ever build.

The ALICE detector shown in Figure 1, is in itself a massive and complex instrument, located 56 meters underground near the village of St. Genis-Pouilly in France. While a pair of protons in the LHC can reach center-of-mass energy levels of 14 TeV, lead ions achieve significantly higher energies, around 1,148 TeV. These particles are guided round the circuit and concentrated into a beam having a diameter smaller than a human hair. This is achieved using nearly 10,000 superconducting magnets, maintained at a temperature of ‑271.3°C. This temperature, colder than that found in outer space, enables the magnets to stay in their superconducting state, allowing them to carry massive electrical currents of 11,080 amperes per magnet without encountering electrical resistance.

MCAST team members are already actively contributing to the experiment through important work in various fields which has expanded to include areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Finite Element Modelling, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Machine learning, Materials Science, Electronics, Structural engineering and Automation. Their work supports both the operation of the current systems such as the High Momentum Particle Identification Detector (HMPID), as well as the R&D of upcoming innovative cutting edge technologies required to construct future detectors and experiments such as the ALICE 3, RICH (Ring-Imaging Cherenkov) detector. The RICH detector is used to identify charged subatomic particles by detecting Cherenkov radiation.

ALICE features several high tech components such as the ultra-thin silicon sensors with MAPS (Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors) technology, providing high precision detection capabilities in the largest pixel detector ever built.

Team Leader Dr Ing Stephen Sammut, Director of the Institute of Engineering and Transport (IET), and Deputy Team Leader Dr Francis Delicata, Senior Research Officer at the Applied Research & Innovation Centre (ARIC), visited CERN to be officially welcomed by Dr Marco van Leeuwen, ALICE Spokesperson, Prof Kai Oliver Schweda, ALICE Deputy Spokesperson, and physicists Dr Giacinto De Cataldo and Dr Ulrich Fuchs. The team familiarised themselves with the engineering and physics challenges underpinning CERN’s operation and discussed collaboration with various officials and scientists. The MCAST team is composed of a further four academics: Dr Pierre Farrugia, Dr Stephane Role, Dr Ing Kevin Theuma and Dr Ing Joseph A Zammit.

From left Kai Schweda, Marco Van Leeuwen, Stephen Sammut, Francis Delicata

This collaboration is greatly benefiting MCAST by exposing academics to cutting-edge technology, ensuring they remain at the forefront of their fields. Additionally, it offers students the opportunity to engage with the latest advancements in physics and engineering, further enriching their learning experience and professional development. The Institute of Engineering and Transport provides approximately 70 full time programs and many more part time programs focusing on various High Technology fields.  Students interested in pursuing careers in high technology and participating in projects at the cutting edge of science are encouraged to explore the available courses and reach out to the Institute for any discussions or guidance they may need.

This activity was financed by the Research Networking Scheme (RNS) 2024 of Xjenza Malta.