In a first, physicists accelerate atoms in the Large Hadron Collider

The successful test may mean the particle accelerator could be used as a gamma-ray factory

LHC

A NEW FRONTIER  Before the Large Hadron Collider accelerated lead atoms, only protons and atomic nuclei had zipped through the particle accelerator.

Maximilien Brice and Julien Ordan/CERN

Not content with protons and atomic nuclei, physicists took a new kind of particle for a spin around the world’s most powerful particle accelerator.