Until 23 February, Antwerp‘s Sint-Anne’s Pedestrian Tunnel, better known in town as the Voetgangerstunnel, offers a unique underground spectacle. In collaboration with the Roads and Traffic Agency or Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer (AWV) of Flanders, the University of Antwerp is simulating a particle accelerator in the tunnel. 

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There, elementary particles collide against each other, such as at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research or Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN) in Switzerland. “In such a particle accelerator, our physicists will look for the origins of our universe”, a press release says. 

For physicists who study elementary particles, CERN in Switzerland is the cream of the crop. In the research center near Geneva, there are kilometers of tunnels underground in which scientists collide protons under conditions that rival the Big Bang. In the ‘debris’ of these collisions, scientists hope to discover ‘primordial particles’ that will tell us more about the building blocks of matter and the origins of our universe.

To highlight the collaboration with CERN, and to show the magic of physics and elementary particles to the general public, the University of Antwerp, in collaboration with AWV, is transforming the Antwerp pedestrian tunnel into a particle accelerator.

Impact on daily life

The idea comes from Maja Verstraeten, an expert in elementary particle physics at the University of Antwerp. “I live in Mortsel and my parents live on Linkeroever, the Left Bank. When I visit them, I regularly cycle through the tunnel. It once reminded me of the Large Hadron Collider or LHC, CERN’s largest particle accelerator, which is 27 kilometers long. Initially I thought about projections in the tunnel, but the result is actually much more spectacular now.”

Push the button

Passers-by activate the particle accelerator at the touch of a button.

Anyone who travels through the tunnel until 23 February will receive heaps of information during his or her descent about elementary particles and what those tiny building blocks of matter tell us about the universe and its origins. 

In concrete terms, the scientists discuss the impact that research into elementary particles has on our daily lives and what applications have emerged as a result of that research. 

“For example, the world wide web was invented by a British scientist who worked at CERN”, says Verstraeten.

Colliding protons

Once in the tunnel, visitors and passers-by can press a button to activate the Antwerp particle accelerator. To an exciting soundtrack, they see pink protons flashing with LED lights from the city center to the Left Bank and blue protons flashing from the Left Bank towards the city. They go faster and faster, until they are almost at the speed of light. They collide and then “BOOM”, you hear and see the big bang.

The Roads and Traffic Agency responded enthusiastically when the university came knocking. 

“For almost two weeks you will discover everything about elementary particles in our Sint-Anna tunnel, a tunnel of 572 meters long and 32 meters deep under the Scheldt. We immediately understood the comparison with CERN in Switzerland. Students and tourists from all over also come to visit the 90-year-old and heritage-listed tunnel, day in and day out. To make it just that little bit more spectacular and educational for them, we were happy to cooperate with UAntwerp‘s request. First and foremost, it remains a tunnel for pedestrians and cyclists, but the people at the university were very willing to think about an installation that would not hinder tunnel users during their crossing. Educational, and we can let everyone admire our beautiful Sint-Anna tunnel. A win-win for both parties”, Stefanie Nagels, spokesperson for the Antwerp section of the Road and Traffic Agency, says.

In 2018, the Voetgangerstunnel was lit in rainbow colours for Antwerp Pride.