Daniel Tapia Takaki

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CERN finds gluons behaving strangely deep inside atomic nuclei

As of September 2026: Led the analysis reported in Physical Review Letters

Physicists at CERN have found a new way to peer inside atomic nuclei, zooming in on structures about one-quarter the size of a proton. Using the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, they measured production of a particle called J/ψ (pronounced "JAY-sigh") at unprecedentedly fine resolutions—and saw something that challenges a decades-old explanation.

Updated Sep 13

Notable Quotes

"Our experiments using incoherent production is like switching from a blurry image to a high-resolution microscope. This process allows us to see how gluons fluctuate and organize themselves inside nuclei."

from CERN finds gluons behaving strangely deep inside atomic nuclei · Updated Sep 13

"At these extraordinary scales, we observe evidence that the gluons begin to behave collectively, a phenomenon known as gluon saturation."

from CERN finds gluons behaving strangely deep inside atomic nuclei · Updated Sep 13