Simulating the collisions between charged particles, scientists have recreated the conditions at the start of the universe, providing new insights into its origins and the nature of matter, according to a study published in Physical Review Letters.

By colliding atoms in CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, scientists achieved temperatures of trillions of degrees Celsius, melting protons and neutrons to form a superhot “soup” — known as a quark-gluon plasma — containing the basic ingredients of matter that existed at the beginning of the universe.

The secrets of this soup have remained a mystery, until an international team of physicists, including researchers from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, used supercomputer simulations to provide new insights into its structure.

The simulations confirm that the plasma behaves like a fluid, which has a swirling, whirlpool-like structure, paving the way for further research into the origins of the universe and the nature of matter.