LHCb Upgrade: Beyond the Energy Frontier

A particle detector at CERN is being rebuilt to catch signs of new physics that current theories cannot explain. The Standard Model of particle physics describes the fundamental particles and forces that make up the universe, but it is incomplete. It cannot explain dark matter, why matter survived over antimatter after the Big Bang, or why certain particles have the masses they do. LHCb, one of four main experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, is designed to spot subtle deviations from the Standard Model by measuring how particles containing beauty and charm quarks decay, and how matter and antimatter behave asymmetrically. The UK groups are leading the upgrade of two key detector systems: the VELO, which tracks particle paths with extreme precision, and the RICH system, which identifies different particle types. This is fundamental science with no immediate practical application. But past fundamental research at CERN led to the invention of the World Wide Web, and detector technologies developed for particle physics now underpin medical imaging systems such as PET scanners. A deeper understanding of why the universe is made of matter rather than nothing could, over decades, reshape physics and open technological paths no one can yet predict.