The initial run of the machine allowed researchers to calibrate their instruments on known particles-a scientist who works on the ATLAS detector told Ars that the initial data was "absolutely beautiful."

What are the implications of QCD for an environment like that inside the ATLAS detector just after two protons have collided at close to the speed of light?

These would decay immediately by means of Hawking radiation, producing all particles in the Standard Model in equal numbers and leaving an unequivocal signature in the ATLAS detector.

The ATLAS detector consists of a series of ever-larger concentric cylinders around the interaction point where the proton beams from the LHC collide.

The ATLAS detector uses two large superconducting magnet systems to bend charged particles so that their momenta can be measured.

The ATLAS detector is complemented by a set of detectors in the very forward region.

The solid curves are the rates of events registered by (in this case) the ATLAS detector.

And the instruments-I work on the ATLAS detector, part of which was built at Argonne-are far more sensitive than anything we've ever done before.

If you'd just like to check in on the progress of the work, the ATLAS detector provides a convenient readout of the amount of data it has obtained.

An FSI system is being used to monitor shape changes of the semiconductor tracker (SCT) on the ATLAS detector at CERN.