Event Time:
Thursday, January 22, 2026 | 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Event Location:
Vancouver Public Library - Central Branch (Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level)
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2026-01-22T18:00:00
2026-01-22T19:30:00
The magical mystery of particle physics!
Event Information:
Curious about how the universe actually works? Join the experts from UBC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy to find out fun facts about everything from the Milky Way to radio waves in this new, accessible science series: How the Universe Works! All are welcome!
Abstract:
Particle physics is the study of the smallest building blocks of the universe, so-called fundamental particles, and their interactions. By colliding protons at energies close to those present 10-10 seconds after the Big Bang, we are trying to uncover the mysteries of how we came to be. We use the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located at CERN, Switzerland, to accelerate two beams of protons to those energies and then they are collided at four points around the 27km ring. At one of those sits the ATLAS detector, a large apparatus designed to collect information about almost all the particles coming out from those collisions. 3000 scientists are needed to build and operate the detector as well as analyse the data that comes out. With this data we examine what we currently believe to be those smallest building blocks and how they interact under various forces (including the Higgs boson of course).
Despite the wealth of data that has confirmed the so-called Standard Model of particle physics, we know it cannot be the end of the story, there are too many things that don’t quite fit. We cannot explain what Dark Matter is: a phenomenon known to exist by many astronomical observations but never been produced or detected on Earth. In fact we think we only understand about 5% of the total energy of the universe. We also don’t really understand why different particles have different masses, the Higgs explains how this happens but not why some particles are very light (like the electron) while one is heavier than a gold atom (the top quark). With another 15 years until the end of the LHC, darthere is still plenty of room to learn more about the universe.
I will give you an overview of what CERN, LHC, and ATLAS are and what those fundamental particles are and how they interact, spending some time on my favourite quark (the top quark) and the Higgs boson. You will also get a chance to pick out some interesting events that might look like the Higgs boson in order to better understand the complexities of modern particle physics experiments.
Bio:
Alison Lister is a Professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy at UBC, where she has been since arriving in Vancouver in 2012 as an assistant professor. Her research is in particle physics, the goal of which is to understand the fundamental (meaning cannot be broken down into smaller pieces) particles and their interactions. She is one of the 3000 members of the ATLAS collaboration. ATLAS is a large detector looking at collisions from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located at CERN in Switzerland. While she has studied many different aspects of the current best model (so-called Standard Model) and looked in many nooks and crannies signs of physics not predicted by that model, she does have a favourite quark, the top quark. She has held a number of leadership roles, the most recent being that she is co-chairing the Canadian sub-atomic physics long-range plan which should help set the stage for the next decade of research within Canada.
Event Location:
Vancouver Public Library - Central Branch (Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level)