Brookhaven Lab Shuts Down Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)

Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider: A Quarter-Century of Groundbreaking Discoveries Comes to a Close

For 25 years, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, has stood as a beacon of scientific innovation, pushing the boundaries of human understanding of the universe’s most fundamental building blocks. From its first collisions in 2000 to its final smash in February 2026, RHIC has been at the forefront of particle physics, making discoveries that have reshaped our understanding of matter, energy, and the forces that govern the cosmos.

A Legacy of Innovation

RHIC’s journey began in the late 1990s, when it became the first machine capable of colliding heavy ions at relativistic speeds. On July 19, 2001, the lab achieved a milestone by producing collisions of gold nuclei at a center of mass energy of 200 GeV/nucleon, marking the beginning of a new era in nuclear physics. This achievement was followed by a series of groundbreaking discoveries, including the potential identification of a new form of matter in 2002 and the creation of a record-breaking 4 trillion degree plasma experiment in 2010, which earned the lab a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Quantum Entanglement and Beyond

In 2023, RHIC scientists uncovered an entirely new kind of quantum entanglement, further solidifying the collider’s reputation as a hub of cutting-edge research. This discovery, along with others, has opened new avenues for exploring the quantum realm and understanding the intricate dance of particles at the smallest scales.

The Final Collision

On February 6, 2026, a bittersweet moment arrived as RHIC conducted its final collisions. A control room full of scientists, administrators, and members of the press gathered to witness the end of an era. As Darío Gil, the Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, pressed a red button to end the collider’s quarter-century saga, the room erupted in applause. “I’m really sad,” said Angelika Drees, a BNL accelerator physicist. “It was such a beautiful experiment and my research home for 27 years. But we’re going to put something even better there.”

The Electron-Ion Collider: A New Frontier

The “something” that will replace RHIC is the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a far more powerful machine designed to further push the frontiers of physics. Slated for construction over the next decade, the EIC will utilize much of RHIC’s infrastructure, replacing one of its ion rings with a new ring for cycling electrons. This new collider will use electrons as tiny knives to slice open gold ions, providing physicists with an unrivaled look into the workings of quarks and gluons and offering another chance to grapple with nature’s strongest force.

A Reentry into Particle Physics

The EIC marks a significant milestone for the United States, as it will be the first new collider built in the country since RHIC. For at least 10 to 15 years, it will be the number one place in the world for young physicists to come, according to Abhay Deshpande, BNL’s associate laboratory director for nuclear and particle physics. This development signifies the country’s reentry into a particle physics landscape it has largely ceded to Europe and Asia over the past two decades.

A Legacy of Discovery

RHIC’s impact on the field of particle physics cannot be overstated. It was the only machine capable of separately sending two protons colliding with precisely aligned spins, a feat unmatched by any other experiment to this day. During its 25-year run, RHIC illuminated nature’s thorniest force and its most fundamental constituents, created the heaviest and most elaborate assemblages of antimatter ever seen, and nearly put to rest a decades-long crisis over the proton’s spin. Its creation of quark-gluon plasma brought physicists closer to the big bang than ever before.

The Future of Physics

As RHIC’s final run generated hundreds of petabytes of data, the science it pioneered will continue to live on. The discoveries made at RHIC, including the first direct evidence of “virtual particles” in quark-gluon plasma, have paved the way for future research and exploration. The closure of RHIC marks the end of an era, but it also heralds the beginning of a new one with the EIC, promising to extend RHIC’s legacy and maintain Brookhaven National Laboratory’s position as a center of discovery.

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