The sPHENIX detector at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has successfully completed a critical “standard candle” test, demonstrating its capability to precisely measure the number and energy of particles produced in high-speed gold ion collisions. This achievement marks a significant step forward in the study of quark gluon plasma (QGP), a state of matter believed to have existed just microseconds after the Big Bang.
In a recent publication in the Journal of High Energy Physics, professor of physics at MIT Gunther Roland, reported that sPHENIX accurately measured the multiplicity and energy of charged particles emerging from gold ion collisions at nearly the speed of light. Notably, the detector observed that head-on collisions produced approximately ten times more charged particles, each with ten times greater energy, compared to glancing collisions. This finding confirms the detector’s precision and reliability in capturing high-energy events.
Gunther Roland professor of Physics at MIT stated,
“This indicates the detector works as it should,” says Gunther Roland, professor of physics at MIT, who is a member and former spokesperson for the sPHENIX Collaboration. “It’s as if you sent a new telescope up in space after you’ve spent 10 years building it, and it snaps the first picture. It’s not necessarily a picture of something completely new, but it proves that it’s now ready to start doing new science.”
Abdulhamid, M. I., Acharya, U., Adams, E. R., Adawi, G., Aidala, C. A., Akiba, Y., Alfred, M., Ali, S., Alsayegh, A., Altaf, S., Amedi, H., Anderson, D. M., Andrieux, V. v., Angerami, A., Applegate, N., Aso, H., Aune, S., Azmoun, B., Bailey, V. R., … Zimmerli, C. (2025). Measurement of charged hadron multiplicity in Au+Au collisions at= 200 GeV with the sPHENIX detector. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2025(8), 75. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2025)075
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The sPHENIX detector, a successor to the original PHENIX experiment, was installed at RHIC in 2021. Weighing about 1,000 tons and roughly the size of a two story house, sPHENIX is designed to measure the products of high-speed particle collisions with unprecedented precision. Its advanced components, including the Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MVTX) and various calorimeters, enable it to track individual particles and reconstruct the conditions of the early universe.
The successful completion of the standard candle test is a pivotal moment for the sPHENIX collaboration, which comprises over 300 scientists from institutions worldwide. With this milestone, the team is poised to delve deeper into the study of QGP, aiming to uncover insights into the fundamental properties of matter and the universe’s origins.
- Precision Proven: sPHENIX successfully measured charged particle multiplicity and energy in gold ion collisions, validating its design and functionality.
- Head-On vs. Glancing Collisions: Head-on collisions produce ~10× more particles and energy compared to glancing collisions, confirming detector sensitivity to collision geometry.
- Next-Generation Detector: sPHENIX replaces PHENIX with faster data acquisition and improved resolution for studying quark-gluon plasma.
- QGP Insights: The detector provides a tool to reconstruct properties of QGP, a fleeting state of matter from the early universe.
- Collaboration Scale: Over 300 scientists worldwide contribute to this research, highlighting the global effort behind fundamental physics discoveries.
Adrian graduated with a Masters Degree (1st Class Honours) in Chemical Engineering from Chester University along with Harris. His master’s research aimed to develop a standardadised clean water oxygenation transfer procedure to test bubble diffusers that are currently used in the wastewater industry commercial market. He has also undergone placments in both US and China primarely focused within the R&D department and is an associate member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE).
