{"id":87393,"date":"2025-11-13T15:46:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/?post_type=r_cas_magazine&p=87393"},"modified":"2025-11-21T11:48:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T16:48:52","slug":"tiny-particles-big-discoveries","status":"publish","type":"r_cas_magazine","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/arts-sciences\/2025\/tiny-particles-big-discoveries\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny Particles, Big Discoveries"},"content":{"rendered":"
BU at CERN: Deniz Yoldas (from left), Payton Harvill, Tiziano Camporesi, Shelby Cavanaugh, and Pedro Baculima.<\/p>\n
By Steve Holt | Photos by Aur\u00e9lien Bergot<\/p>\n
In a complex that spans more than 1,300 acres on the outskirts of Geneva, straddling Switzerland\u2019s border with France, scientists from around the world are trying to understand how the universe works\u2014from the tiniest particles to stars, planets, and black holes.<\/strong> The laboratory, operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (or CERN), may be best known for its Large Hadron Collider, a nearly 17-mile ring 100 meters underground where researchers smash particles together at high speeds, studying the reaction and looking for previously unseen particles and phenomena. In 2012, for example, they discovered the subatomic Higgs boson\u2014sometimes called \u201cthe God particle\u201d\u2014a breakthrough that helped them understand why particles gain mass and fill in a decades-old gap in particle physics theory.<\/p>\n
Every day at CERN, thousands of visiting and permanent researchers work on hundreds of experiments of cosmic importance. Each summer, they get an assist from as many as 20 undergraduate students from Arts & Sciences\u2014a rarity in a lab where most of the visiting students are doctoral candidates, according to Tiziano Camporesi, an adjunct physics professor. Camporesi, part of the CERN team that discovered the Higgs boson particle, now helps match juniors participating in BU\u2019s Geneva Study Abroad Program\u2014which celebrated its 20th year in 2025\u2014to projects in the world-renowned lab. The study abroad experience runs from January through July each year and combines courses in physics and French with lab experience at CERN. Students can apply to extend their stay through the summer to continue their work at the facility. And if you\u2019re envisioning them making coffee runs for the PhDs all day, don\u2019t. \u201cThe students are fully integrated into international teams working on cutting-edge projects in their respective domains,\u201d Camporesi says. That includes reporting regularly on the projects they\u2019re working on, including at international conferences.<\/p>\n
The projects BU students assist with span a wide range of domains. This summer they helped analyze data from Large Hadron Collider experiments. They participated in the research, development, and construction of the next generation of particle detectors and explored the properties of anti-hydrogen atoms, or antimatter. And they worked on studies of nuclear isotopes, what Camporesi calls a niche yet vital area of nuclear physics. \u201cIf you\u2019re a physicist, CERN is where you want to be, and it\u2019s one heck of an opportunity as an undergraduate,\u201d says Payton Harvill (CAS\u201926), who used a technology called collinear laser spectroscope to study the makeup of rare and unstable \nisotopes. \u201cIt is the best place to be in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arts \u00d7 Sciences spoke with Harvill and three other student researchers about how their experiences at CERN have opened a window to new career paths in the sciences.<\/p>\n
Payton Harvill marvels at her journey from rural Ellensburg, Wash.\u2014population 18,000\u2014to Geneva, where she spent the summer shooting beams of light into rare isotopes at the high-security CERN lab. Harvill and her research team repeatedly bounce the ions through an ion trap and probe them using laser beams\u2014research that perhaps one day will reveal how the nucleons interact in the nucleus of atoms. Their work could advance nuclear medicine and energy technologies. Harvill set out to learn why some elements, specifically exotic cadmium and magnesium, gain an unusual stability in their half-life, which is the time it takes for half of the atoms of a radioactive isotope to decay. She says her job was \u201cto get the most sensitive measurements of these isotopes in the world,\u201d and adds that she aims to produce isotope measurements with higher precision values than much of the existing literature. \u201cOur device has been able to push the limits of uncertainty that we\u2019re able to measure, which is pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pedro Baculima (CAS\u201926) \n<\/strong>Cuenca, Ecuador<\/h6>\nPedro Baculima (CAS’26)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As a teenager, Pedro Baculima devoured Stephen Hawking\u2019s A Brief History of Time, which exposed him to a universe filled with dark matter, black holes, and big, unanswered questions. At BU, Baculima started studying neutrinos\u2014 the abundant but hard-to-detect subatomic particles that make up the universe. He feels fortunate to have been matched to an experiment at CERN exploring how these fundamental particles interact with energy never measured before. Baculima ran simulations of various experimental conditions, adapting and adjusting the code to his fellow researchers\u2019 needs. A primary objective of the experiment, he says, is to study neutrinos produced in proton-proton collisions in an energy range never probed before. \u201cAll this knowledge, at the end, contributes to our understanding of the world we live in,\u201d Baculima says. \u201cSo from my perspective, that\u2019s why it matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gamma Factory experiment at CERN\u2014located in the tunnels underneath the complex\u2014uses lasers to create high-intensity gamma ray beams. Shelby Cavanaugh\u2019s job was to control the mechanical vibrations of the setup and provide means for the researchers to correct for vibrations in future experiments. She spent much of her time developing and testing the device in the optics lab, later deploying it underground to collect data. The experiment could result in higher-power gamma ray beams, which help scientists see clearly inside the nuclei of atoms. \u201cYou feel like the least knowledgeable person in the room at all times,\u201d Cavanaugh says. \u201cBut you\u2019re surrounded by people who genuinely want you to learn, because they remember being in that position themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deniz Yoldas (CAS\u201926) \n<\/strong>Istanbul, Turkey<\/h6>\nDeniz Yoldas (CAS\u201926)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Just one year after taking and loving\u2014his first quantum physics class at BU, Deniz Yoldas couldn\u2019t believe he was at CERN. Every morning, Yoldas laced up his safety shoes, strapped on a helmet, grabbed his radiation detector, and reported to the antiproton decelerator facility, where scientists study the behavior of antimatter\u2014a counterpart of regular matter with the same mass but opposite charge and quantum properties. \u201cMy experience is basically exploring the elusive nature of antimatter, trying to spot its differences from regular matter with high precision,\u201d Yoldas says. \u201cIt\u2019s important because the theories that try to explain the origin of the universe predict there should have been an equal amount of matter and antimatter created at the Big Bang, which is clearly not what we have observed so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
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BU Physics Faculty, Graduate Students Share in $3 Million Breakthrough Prize<\/h6>\n
Thousands of scientists from more than 70 countries working at CERN\u2019s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from 2015 to 2024 shared in the prestigious 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. The prize winners include a number of former and current BU faculty and graduate students who\u2019ve worked on a variety of LHC experiments that resulted in detailed measurements of the Higgs boson, among other discoveries. The prize\u2014which, at $3 million, is the largest in physics globally\u2014recognizes the scientists\u2019 groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of fundamental particles and forces. The prize money was split between the winners and will be used to support doctoral students conducting research at CERN. Dubbed \u201cthe Oscars of Science,\u201d the 2025 Breakthrough ceremony was hosted by comedian James Corden in April 2025 in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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