The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) recently published online 300 TB of raw data from their Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
LHC is the world's biggest particle accelerator created to delve deeper into the research of particle physics. The open data portal is accessible online to the general public. It consists of more than 100 TB of 7 TeV proton collisions.
Researchers around the world are invited to access the open data to further their own studies about how the cosmos came to be.
It could make some researchers rejoice to know that some of the data included are CERN experiments on abstract concepts on particle behavior. Scientists are welcome to download the files in the same format utilized by experts in the field of physics.
The CERN open data has 100-terabyte worth of raw information collected by the LHC's Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector in 2011. This compiled data includes several experiments such as the search for dark matter and the Higgs-Boson particle and approximately 250 trillion particle collision data.
There are also online tools to help researchers make sense of the recent uploads, along with instructions on how physicists can utilize the data in their own studies.
"As scientists, we should take the release of data from publicly funded research very seriously. In addition to showing good stewardship of the funding we have received, it also provides a scientific benefit to our field as a whole," said Salvatore Rappoccio, a physicist at CMS.
"While it is a difficult and daunting task with much left to do, the release of CMS data is a giant step in the right direction."
The release is part of CMS' dedicated long-term efforts for data preservation and its open-data policy. CMS physicist Kati Lassila-Perini added that after they have reached the full extent of data exploration from their end, they find no reason to keep the data private.
Apart from inspiring others to conduct their own data exploration initiatives, making the data public helps ensure that they will still be available in the long run.
However, it's not just for scientists. Teachers and students can also use the open data to learn more about particle physics. The data is readily available to anyone and can be downloaded from the CERN Open Data Portal.
