Fermilab conducts scientific research in particle physics. We investigate the smallest building blocks of matter (the fundamental subatomic particles) that science has ever explored. We conduct experiments on these building blocks in order to understand the forces that hold them together or force them apart.

The technique used by many experiments is to collide beams of subatomic particles into one another. The results of the collisions enable us to "see" the particles--much in the way that bouncing light off an object lets us see the object’s details.

To explore finer and finer details, the experiments push forward on three interrelated frontiers of: energy, intensity, and cosmic. Higher energy collisions observe in finer detail. More intense beams produce more infrequent, rare results from the collisions. Cosmic events – whether the detection of cosmic rays, the discovery of exploding stars, or matter collapsing into black holes – provide opportunities for observation of frontier conditions very difficult to create here on earth.

More about these research frontiers
Diagram of the research program frontiers

Fermilab hosts several international experiments and our staff participates in some offsite experiments, most notably CMS in Geneva, Switzerland. These experiments are built and operated by hundreds-to-thousands of scientists. They gather data at prodigious rates. Fermilab's Computing Division works with the scientists and facilities to acquire, install, and put into operation the systems that do data acquisition, analysis and management.