Overview

• Physicists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider have systematically measured the transmutation of lead into gold nuclei via electromagnetic dissociation during near-miss ion collisions.
• The ALICE detector's zero degree calorimeters enabled precise counting of photon-nucleus interactions, marking the first systematic measurement of this phenomenon at LHC energies.
• Run 3 of the LHC nearly doubled the gold nuclei yield compared to Run 2, though the total remains minuscule, with gold nuclei surviving only microseconds before fragmenting.
• The findings, published in *Physical Review C*, refine theoretical models of electromagnetic dissociation and help predict beam losses that constrain accelerator performance.
• This research builds on earlier observations at the Super Proton Synchrotron and highlights the potential for next-generation colliders to further explore rare nuclear processes.