THE STUDENTS WHO TOUCHED THE SUN

In 2014, to coincide with its 60th anniversary, CERN was making a fully equipped beam line available for a team of school students to run an experiment. Beam time was allocated by scientific competition, just as it is allocated for all CERN experiments.

Proposals were evaluated according to the following criteria: Motivation of the students Creativity Feasibility of the proposal Demonstration of ability to follow the scientific method

we'd like to experience CERN." "Riding on a particle beam, we've set out for a cosmic journey. Filled with mind adventures and understanding, we'd like to experience CERN."

Weak force, one of the four fundamental forces of Nature, was the motive power for major discoveries at CERN.

under the action of a force Now and then in the Sun light hydrogen nuclei under the action of a force

are transformed into heavy hydrogen nuclei. This is the first step of energy production in the Sun. But the most striking feature of this phenomenon is its small rate of occurrence. That's why we call this force weak. It is indeed this slowness that makes them so precious, ensuring the appropriate thermal conditions that are necessary for life on earth.

There is a plethora of particles other than protons, neutrons and electrons. Pion is one of them: It's heavier than electron and lighter than proton and neutron. Muon is also a particle: It's exactly as the electron but much heavier than this.

Now and then under the action of the weak force, a pion

is transformed into a muon or more seldom into an electron. Studying the transformation of a pion into a muon or an electron we study the weak force.

Following almost 300 submissions from school groups around the world, two teams have been selected to come to CERN to carry out their own experiments at a CERN beam line. The winners are the “Odysseus' Comrades” team from Varvakios Pilot School in Athens, Greece and the “Dominicuscollege” team from Dominicus College in Nijmegen, the Netherlands." "The judges and Committee were particularly impressed with the understanding your team shows of the development of physics at CERN and in particular the weak interaction. The proposal has real scientific merit..."

The delay wire chamber: It was recording the positions of pions. The Cherenkov counter: It was identifing pions. The scintillator: It was signaling that pions, muons and electrons were in the experimental area.

The calorimeter: It was measured the energy of the coming particles and absorbs the electrons. The muon filter: a big piece of iron which was stopping all kind of particles except muons.

Odysseus' Comrades touched the Sun. During their experiment at CERN, just a few meters away from them, was the weak force at work. Just like in the Sun. So by their experiment Odysseus' Comrades touched the Sun.