It's open season on exotic sub-atomic particles at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) as CERN begins its 2016 run with a series of groundbreaking tests expected to continue until 2019.

After "hibernating" last winter, the LHC is being fired up by engineers in preparation for a 2016 "hunting season" where CERN expects to receive about six times more data from the LHC than in 2015. This year will also see the LHC, the most powerful particle accelerator ever built, generate up to one billion particle collisions per second.

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This ramped-up pace might lead to the discovery of things exotic like new particles and even new dimensions in spacetime. LHC might also help scientists understand more about dark matter and dark energy, the flabbergasting materials that comprise most of the known universe.

At the end of 2015, scientists at the LHC said they'd discovered anomalies that might hint at the existence of a mysterious new particle that could prove the existence of extra spacetime dimensions.

LHC in 2016 is primed for its biggest ever run that could lead to the discovery of these new particles and that might dramatically change our understanding of the universe. Results of this run could be available in the next few months. 

"We are exploring truly fundamental issues, and that's why this run is so exciting," said CERN senior physicist Paris Sphicas. "Who knows what we will find."

The LHC operated for six months in 2015 at the new energy level of 13 teraelectronvolts (TeV).  At its peak, LHC can fire its two beams (each with some 273,600 billion protons) through the massive collider in opposite directions. These particles then smash into each other with a combined energy level of 13 TeV to produce two billion collisions a second.

Frederick Bordry, CERN director for accelerators and technology, said LHC scientists are looking for very rare phenomena, and this requires the LHC generate a very large number of collisions.

"We are really at an energy level that enables discoveries," he said.

TagsLarge Hadron Collider, LHC, CERN, particle accelerator, Paris Sphicas, Frederick Bordry