In summer 2022, the Belle II detector at SuperKEKB in Japan underwent a long shutdown to prepare for its second run of experiments. During this time, several upgrades were made to the facility to better handle the expected increases in luminosity and backgrounds originating from the beams.
One of the major upgrades was the installation of a new vertex detector with a fully implemented pixel detector. This will allow researchers to more precisely analyze the properties of B mesons and other particles produced by the SuperKEKB accelerator. Additionally, an improved beam pipe was installed at the collision point, which will help to reduce background noise and improve data collection performance.
Another key enhancement was made to the radiation shielding around the detector, which will help to protect researchers from harmful radiation while they work on their experiments. The upgraded detector is now ready for its second run of experiments, which are expected to take place in early 2023.
The Belle II experiment first recorded collisions in March 2019 and aims to uncover new phenomena through precise analysis of these particles. The long-term goal of Belle II is to accumulate a dataset that is 50 times larger than that of the former Belle experiment, which would allow researchers to delve deeper into the mysteries of particle physics and potentially discover new physics beyond the Standard Model.
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