The international ALPHA (Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus) collaboration is the world’s first experiment to contain and make physical measurements of antimatter atoms. Based at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, ALPHA is one of two major TRIUMF-CERN collaborations, the other being the ATLAS detector on CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. ALPHA is using the simplest antimatter atom, antihydrogen, … Continued
The M11 beam channel provides low-intensity beams of pions, muons and positrons for testing and calibrating detectors for particle physics experiments. The typical experiment at a large accelerator like CERN or J-PARC uses complex detectors with many detector subsystems built in different countries, and each subsystem must be tested and verified by their builders in … Continued
T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) is the first experiment to artificially generate neutrinos and explore how they change flavour as they travel, a critical area of research in the search for beyond-Standard Model physics. The Japan-based T2K is one of TRIUMF’s major international collaborations, with TRIUMF scientists, engineers and technicians providing expertise and material contributions from … Continued
TRIUMF’s Francium Trapping Facility is using rare francium atoms to capture an ultra-precise fingerprint of atomic weak force symmetry breaking and potential beyond-Standard Model physics. Among the four fundamental forces (along with electromagnetism, the strong force, and gravity) the weak force is the only one which violates symmetry: mirror image processes (parity); and time-reversed ones … Continued
The unique TRIUMF-based Collinear Fast-Beam Laser Spectroscopy facility is using the smallest changes in electrons’ quantum-level jumps to map the extreme frontier of nuclear structure in rare isotopes. The core challenge in studying these extreme nuclei, ones with lopsided ratios of neutrons and protons, is that they’re very short-lived. The rare isotope must be produced, … Continued
TRIUMF’s Science Technology Facility provides the expertise and specialized construction capacity for the design-to-installation creation of state-of-the-art particle detectors. The Science Technology Facility’s two dozen staff have contributed to the fabrication, in part or full, to more than a dozen detectors for subatomic particle and nuclear physics experiments based at TRIUMF and Canadian and international … Continued
TRIUMF’s Theory Department is unique in Canada as a theoretical team embedded in a world-leading rare isotope laboratory. This context provides a synergistic interface between theorists whose original work is informed by leading-edge experimental technologies and results, and in turn whose independent research guides and inspires experimental approaches. The Theory Department specializes in two areas: … Continued
TRIUMF’s PIENU (Pion to Electron and NeUtrino) experiment is searching for beyond-standard model physics by measuring with the greatest level of accuracy ever achieved the rare decays of particles called pions. While protons and neutrons each consist of three quarks, pions belong to the family of particles called mesons, made of a quark and an … Continued
Based at CERN, NA62 is making ultra-precise measurements of some of the rarest forms of particle decay in a search for beyond-standard model forces or particles. NA62 is one of TRIUMF’s major CERN-based international collaborations, which include the ALPHA anti-matter experiment and ATLAS detectors at the Large Hadron Collider. NA62, or North Area 62, refers … Continued
TRINAT (the TRIUMF Neutral Atom Trap) is an experimental facility that’s giving physicists a unique window into the nature of the weak force and possible physics beyond the Standard Model through making the world’s most precise measurements of the combined products of beta decay. Of the four fundamental forces—including electromagnetism, gravity, and the strong force—the … Continued