The University of Auckland is a member of Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment currently running at The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva. The CMS group will examine the dynamics of collisions between counter-rotating beams of protons (light ions), and counter-rotating beams of lead nuclei (heavy ions). Auckland's role is to help develop and perform tests of the Beam Radiation Monitoring detectors, and to work on data analysis of p-p and Pb-Pb reactions.

The nuclear physics aims of this experiment are two-fold: first, to test predictions made using Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD), which is the modern theory of strong nuclear forces, and second, to gain detailed information on the equation-of-state which governs highly compressed nuclear matter. In this work, the nuclear equation-of-state can be studied by measuring a property of heavy nuclei nuclear reactions called the "momentum flow". An important QCD prediction is that if nuclear matter is substantially compressed beyond its normal density, or if a high enough energy density is achieved in a nuclear volume, then a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) may be formed. Other properties of the possible QGP may be studied using hard probes or heavy meson flow. Such high energy-density matter is believed to have existed in the initial few microseconds following the "Big Bang" origin of the universe.