page_title: LHCf experiment
section_title: Purpose
hierarchical_section_title: LHCf experiment / Purpose
caption_attribution_description: English: The LHCf experiment, the smallest of the six experiments on the LHC
context_page_description: The LHCf is a special-purpose Large Hadron Collider experiment for astroparticle physics, and one of eight detectors in the LHC accelerator at CERN. The other seven are: ATLAS, ALICE, CMS, MoEDAL, TOTEM, LHCb and FASER. LHCf is designed to study the particles generated in the "forward" region of collisions, those almost directly in line with the colliding proton beams. It therefore consists of two detectors, 140 m on either side of the interaction point.
  Because of this large distance, it can co-exist with a more conventional detector surrounding the interaction point, and shares the interaction point IP1 with the much larger general-purpose ATLAS experiment.
context_section_description: The LHCf is intended to measure the energy and numbers of neutral pions (
  π⁰
  ) produced by the collider. This will hopefully help explain the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. The results will complement other high-energy cosmic ray measurements from the  Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina, and the Telescope Array Project in Utah.
caption: The LHCf experiment, the smallest of the seven experiments on the LHC
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