Physicists at the LHC have created the strongest magnetic field ever measured as part of the hunt for exotic particles called magnetic monopoles – but the search came up empty
Daniel Dominguez/CERN
All magnets that we know of have at least two poles – typically a north and south pole – with opposite magnetic charges. However, some models of the universe predict that there should be particles with only a north or a south pole called. For example, the existence of magnetic monopoles would explain why electric charge is quantised, meaning it comes in packets with a minimum size.
at the University of Alabama and his colleagues looked for monopoles being produced by a proposed phenomenon called the Schwinger effect, wherein extremely powerful magnetic fields could spontaneously produce magnetic particles and their antiparticles.To look for magnetic monopoles, the team used the largest magnetic field ever measured. This is produced at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, when two beams of lead particles smash together at extraordinary speeds.