LARGE HADRON COLLIDER: One of the LHC's superconducting magnets is shown here [inset] superimposed on an aerial view of CERN's accelerator complex near Geneva with the path of the LHC marked in red.
Image: © CERN
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Gravity's Engines
We’ve long understood black holes to be the points at which the universe as we know it comes to an end. Often billions of times more massive than the Sun, they...
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The number 14 turns up conspicuously in discussions of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) , the soon-to-be world's biggest particle accelerator. Construction of its underground, 17-mile (27-kilometer) ring on a site near Geneva, Switzerland, has taken 14 years. It is designed to reach energies of 14 tera- (trillion) electron volts (TeV), or about seven times that of the Tevatron , the world's currently reigning accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois.
And project leaders at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced today that next month workers should be done chilling the machine's 50,000 tons of magnets to temperatures colder than deep space—a bracing – 456.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.9 kelvins)—making them ready to whip opposing beams of protons to near light speed and collide them so researchers can pick over the debris.
The expected cool-down date? The week of July 14.
Needless to say, switching on the largest, most complex science experiment ever constructed will be a drawn-out process. "There's no red button to press," James Gillies, a CERN spokesperson, said during a news conference yesterday Web cast from the CERN Control Center in Prévessin, France. The lab plans to send the first protons through the ring in mid-August, then spend a couple of months ramping them up to high energies. Ideally, the LHC's massive particle detectors should be ready for action at around the same time.
In anticipation of the start-up, CERN convened a panel of five Nobel Prize–winning physicists to give their thoughts on the project. The LHC was built first and foremost to seek out a subatomic particle called the Higgs boson , which solves the conundrum of why the photon (the particle that conveys the force of electromagnetism) has no mass, whereas its counterparts, the W and Z bosons (the operative particles in the weak nuclear force that causes radioactive decay), do.
Physicists believe that the Higgs breaks a symmetry between these forces, similar to the way Earth's gravity makes it appear that space has an up and a down. It does so by acting like molasses that other particles have to plow through. The end result is mass as we know it.
Most of the panelists said they were confident that the LHC would uncover the Higgs, because its presence (or at least something like it) is so strongly implied by the standard model of particle physics , which describes the three forces that hold atoms together. (In addition to electromagnetism and the weak force is the strong nuclear force that keeps individual protons and neutrons from dissolving into more basic particles called quarks.)
Discovering the Higgs would close a three-decade-long chapter in the history of physics. "We are all enormously excited that the LHC is about to turn on," said David Gross of the University of California, Santa Barbara, co-winner of a 2004 Nobel for elucidating the strong nuclear force.
Part of the enthusiasm stems from the fact that the standard model was so successful that physicists have no firm clues on how to proceed beyond it. Even more interesting than the Higgs, panel members said, would be the discovery of particles responsible for dark matter as well as an explanation of why the universe has a preponderance of matter over antimatter , either of which would break new ground in fundamental physics.
And then there's the far-out stuff: George Smoot of the University of California, Berkeley, who shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for mapping the faint cosmic microwave background radiation that gave evidence of the big bang, mentioned the prospect of finding signs of extra dimensions of space implied by string theory. "I have really high hopes‚ perhaps too high," he said.
Gross, who described himself as more conservative, said he expected the LHC to reveal supersymmetry, a proposed theory in which each particle has a heavier counterpart; such a discovery could explain the existence of dark matter as well as solve some lingering coincidences in particle physics known as unification and the hierarchy problem , which have to do with why the forces appear so different from one another.
Of course, nature might throw researchers a curveball. Martinus Veltman of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (Nobelist in 1999 with Gerard 't Hooft of Utrecht University in the Netherlands for work on the weak force that paved the way for the Higgs) suggested a gloomy but speculative scenario in which Higgs exists but fails to show up at the LHC. If that happens, he predicted, "it will probably be the end of particle physics."
Gross said that such a result, going against the standard model, would itself be "enormously exciting." What worried him was finding the Higgs and nothing else, because then it would be impossible to persuade world governments to fund future machines such as the proposed International Linear Collider , which took a hit in December when Congress yanked 2008 funding for the U.S. share of R&D on the project.
Without some hints from nature, physicists would not even know how big to build their machines to try to make new discoveries, Gross said. "My nightmare is we find the Higgs and nothing else," he said. "I have a lot of confidence that we won't, but that is a nightmare."
't Hooft, the fifth panelist, who shared his prize with Veltman, said even if the LHC turned up nothing but the Higgs, physicists would still keep the machine busy studying the way it interacts with other particles. Prior particle accelerators were considered successes for doing essentially the same thing, he said.
The discussion touched at least one laureate's nerves. Theoreticians "have too much time to think" sometimes, Carlo Rubbia (awarded half the 1984 physics prize for experiments that led to the discovery of the W and Z bosons) charged. Rubbia, a former director general of CERN who is considered the father of the LHC for his early work on the project and now holds scientific advisory positions at several European institutions, asked if Veltman would return his share of the Nobel Prize money in the event the LHC found no sign of the Higgs. (Veltman replied that he had already spent it.)
Despite the excitement and sense of urgency, all of the Nobelists acknowledged that uncovering nature's secrets takes time. This, too, however, became a touchy subject. When asked how long before the LHC will perform its first experiments at full energy, Rubbia betrayed signs of exasperation, noting that glitches are to be expected. "This is not going to be a fault, this is not going to be a failure," he said, if there are unexpected delays. "The science community needs peace and tranquility to get over all these problems."
Gross noted that it would take at least several years before evidence of Higgs began to come in. An LHC timeline circulated in April at a physics meeting in St. Louis indicated that certain varieties of supersymmetry ought to show up even before the Higgs does.
The bottom line, Smoot said: "We're all looking for this to be a revolutionary situation, and no matter what comes out, it will tell us something."
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Add CommentThis coverage is all well and "good," but I am quite concerned by the current absence of the other side of the debate. Until very recently, on the Sciam Community pages there were many independent science-oriented bloggers; I was one of them. On my blog, "Hasanuddins Blog" I was advancing a cosmologic model that held many far-reaching implications with respect to the safety/danger of LHC. Though many detractors tried to disprove the new model, none had yet been successful. To the contrary, in the latest volley a man claiming to be from the Tevatron accelerator at FermiLab had supplied evidence that could conclusively prove the new model (and the inherent dangers of LHC) once and for all. Today, my blog and all the other community blogs are unavailable. Hopefully this is just a temporary glitch as Sciam revamps its website. The question of the safety of this project is of supreme concern to all. Therefore it is essential that all arguments are allowed to be heard. After all, the process of the advancement of science is open debate, is it not?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWith half of the 'Standard Model' missing, shrouded within a mathematical haze of pure speculation (guessing), and with CERN LHC built upon these antiquated precepts, there is absolutely no way of telling, what awaits CERN! It will take the LHC experiments to extricate the physics community, out of their stagnated, depressing, and quagmired current positions! At least one sector of the 'Standard Model' will receive a tsunami of change, that will send the mathematicians and physicists scrambling wildly to install these new, much needed corrections upon our view of 'reality'! There is no doubt, that the future world desperate energy needs lie in LHC technologies; however, the production course should be traveled with extreme caution! The LSAG 'safety report' covers only the lower energy 2008 'start-up' operation projections, and speaks nothing of the pre-planned decade of precision energy upgrades to come, set to begin in 2009! This same report covers only previous public dockets of concern, and nothing toward 'new' emerging risk assessment meetings, that are going on - 'Behind Closed Doors'! CERN is grappling with multiple variance-calculation paradoxes, even as Michelangelo Mangano (and others) penned the now famous 'quiet the public' 'Safe Status' safety report! One such risk under evaluation is: ALICE heavy (Pb) ion collisions, scheduled (once financed) for 2009. This project creates hyper-density plasmatic fields, which could affect a gravitational curvature, that could form a compression singularity vortex, and then an event-horizon expansion! This is known as the: Einstein-Rosen Bridge wormhole: QUANTUM WORMHOLE! Director General Robert Aymar, Catherine Decosse (ALICE), Michelangelo Mangano, Stephen Hawking, CERN Theory Unit, and LSAG are in disussions, at this time. Also in question, are the Quantum Time-Dilation Contraction-Calibration Equations, used for particle beam timing/focus, and if not accurate can cause facility damage. This line of equations is used to control the 'impact moment', as precise as possible, to promote optimum collisions per second, to be used for detector analysis.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI find it interesting that both NewScientist and Scientific American do not even mention the safety issue.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this&after 50 months the earth to a centimeter would have shrunk. It would be nothing more there, not only no more life, there but also the earth would be& a small black hole.
-Prof. Dr. Otto E. R�ssler, Max Planck Institute, University of T�bingen
& the scientists are fully aware that it is not a project without a grave risk to the life of the Earth.
-Dr. Raj Baldev, Author, Theoretical Cosmology
& put a stop to this insanity.
-Teresa E Tutt, Ph.D, Nuclear Engineering Texas A&M University
& stake the very survival of all life on earth on the truth of their ZPE stuff! & a gamble.
-Dr. Paul J. Werbos, National Science Foundation
LHCFacts.org
It only takes one simple thing say like a proton to be a string of energy in a stable structure in time and dimension for the whole experiment to go south. How do we really know something that is taken for granted as matter is matter when it has no known defined boundary?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA simple oversight of assuming what is real just because it acts like a particle could be devastating and has not been tested. The proton is the only known stable particle with a life expectancy of 120 trillion years which is totally at odds with all other known particles.
If I recall my Professor Julius Sumner Miller correctly ... why is this so?
The LHC technologies, if long-term successful, could release information involving the manipulation of matter, luminosity (plasma), and energy, that could lead to a controllable, and sustainable nuclear fushion process! An entriely 'new' branch of energy physics could conceivably be born, with unimaginable outgrowth potential! The Quantum Wormhole would be initiated by an opposite and equal reaction of: quantum inverse ('ghost') radiation; thereby engaging super-symmetric 'feed-back loops', thus powering the kinetic expansion!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRE: Previous two-part comment -Change spelling to read: fusion. RE: New comment: The Abstract Universal Reflection -- Note: Assuming Space did not pre-exist The Big Bang(?), and that our Universe is a closed geometrically configured Bubble-Universe; the initiating singularitys' explosive detonation transformed it's compression potential, into the kinetic streaming subdivisions of Space, Time, Energy, and Mass, an expanding Cosmic Web. Gravity can be postulated as only an interreaction of these interrelated states. Gravity as effect only, not of an independent force of nature, and effective at two levels: 1. The localized curvature around Mass. 2. The Universal String interrelationship. These two, are like the spiders' web: Localized Tension Reaction, and the Universal Tension Reaction. Our web is divided into the Macrocosmic (Matter) Realm, Molecular Realm, Nuclear Realm, and finally the Quantum Realm. Space/Time/Energy/Mass operates within each of the individually connected realms; thus interconnection. The next decade of CERN LHC/ALICE/ATLAS experiments, shall perhaps shed light upon these relationships, answering the accelerating universe question, and a multitude of other revelations! One thing is for certain, these experiments shall be penetrating the Quantum Boundary Layer, a chaotic, frenzied, insane domain, that is responsible for Nuclear positionings! Under 'General Relativity', a relativistic warp of Time is possible, and structural integrity loss as well. The effects should be localized, except for runaway Blackholes and Wormholes. We know what the Blackhole could do, but the Wormhole could re-distribute the aforementioned boundary layers into 'new' unforeseen, localized configurations!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOverview: Let's see now; the CERN LHC/ALICE/ATLAS use two 7 TeV proton particle beams, in a head-on opposing collision, equal to 14 TeV impact, and a decade of already pre-planned precision energy upgrades (2009-2019). They plan to first test, with lower energy-packet pulses, at 2008 levels, and then increase the collisions per/second, per 'impact moment'. Then they plan, once financed in 2009, not only to go to full-power, but to engage ALICE & ATLAS colliding other types of particles, such as the heavy lead (Pb) ions. These create hyper-density plasma, and increase the risk of unknown outcomes! The concerns range from (MBH) Blackholes, Strangelet Transitions, Quantum Wormholes, and Time-Distortions, not to mention complete protonic reversal. Even to this minute, the scientists are not sure of the 'random' outcome potentials. Stephen Hawking is not sure about 'Hawking Radiation', and it's dissipation effects upon (MBH) Blackholes! The scientists are further unsure of the complete design of the 'Standard Model', and this is what the LHC is based upon; the design is based upon theoretical mathematics! The underlying search, that is driving the entire project-set, are the secrets to: Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Fusion, Higgs Particle, Supersymmetry Particles, Multi-Dimensions, Time - Understanding and Control, and the Completion of the 'Standard Model' within Superstring Unified Theory! These discoveries are intended to be applied to all branches of science and technology; a prime example is Astrophysics: to answer the Accelerating Universe questions! The controllable and sustainable 'fusion process', could meet our future world, desperate energy needs! Despite the LSAG 'safety report' being expedited for public consumption, and riddled with inconsistencies, there could be great discoveries! It is conceivable, that this could open doors to Interstellar Space-Flight, and oh yes, Time-Travel! We must understand the risk potential v/s the positive outgrowth potential involved, and assess! In this comment, I am neither for, nor against; however, these are some of the general facts, and nothing more!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMan's technology has exceeded his grasp. - 'The World is not Enough'
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNobel Prize hungry Physicists are racing each other and stopping at nothing to try to find the supposed 'Higgs Boson'(aka 'God') Particle, among others, and are risking nothing less than the annihilation of the Earth and all Life in endless EXPERIMENTS to try to solve theoretical problems when urgent real problems face the planet. The European Organization for Nuclear Research(CERN) new Large Hadron Collider(LHC) is the world's most powerful atom smasher that will soon be firing subatomic particles at each other at nearly the speed of light to create Miniature Big Bangs producing clouds of Micro Black Holes, Strangelets and other potentially cataclysmic phenomena.
The CERN-LHC website Mainpage itself states quote: "There are many theories as to what will result from these collisions,..." This stunning admission is because they truly don't know what's going to happen. They are experimenting with forces they don't understand to obtain results they can't comprehend. If you think like most people do that 'They must know what they're doing.' you could not be more wrong. Some people think the same thing about medical Dr.s but consider this by way of comparison and example from JAMA: "A recent Institute of Medicine report quoted rates estimating that medical errors kill between 44,000 and 98,000 people a year in US hospitals." The second part of the quote reads "...but what's for sure is that a brave new world of physics will emerge from the new accelerator,..." A molecularly changed or Black Hole consumed Lifeless World? The end of the quote reads "as knowledge in particle physics goes on to describe the workings of the Universe." These experiments to date have so far produced infinitely more questions than answers but there isn't a particle experimentalist physicist alive who wouldn't gladly trade his life to glimpse the "God particle", and sacrifice the rest of us with him.
This quote from National Geographic exactly sums this "science" up: "That's the essence of experimental particle physics: You smash stuff together and see what other stuff comes out."
For more information visit;
http://www.risk-evaluation-forum.org/anon1.htm
http://www.lhcdefense.org/
http://www.lhcconcerns.com
http://www.SaneScience.org/
http://www.LHCFacts.org
Popular Mechanics - "World's Biggest Science Project Aims to Unlock 'God Particle'" - http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/extreme_machines/4216588.html"
NOTICE: I am hosting a personal CERN LHC - Public Opinion Poll & Debate, at the direct web-link below. Everyone is welcome to observe, but due to malware prevention, must register to Vote. The objectives of this Poll & Debate, are to stimulate healthy debate, and to provide a time-capsule for the future. The statistic results shall be forwarded to CERN top officials, and even Stephen Hawking (if his staff will forward to him). I have placed myself as a 'neutral observer', and the worldwide incoming 'reply' comments, become the debate. The Poll closes October 17, 2008, so pass it on, and get the word out. Thank you for your support, and don't forget to Vote!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.volconvo.com/forums/science-technology/22661-cern-lhc-alice-atlas.html
Remember: Go Ask Alice, I think she'll know!
NOTICE: I am hosting a personal CERN LHC - Public Opinion Poll & Debate, at the direct web-link below. Everyone is welcome to observe, but due to malware prevention, must register to Vote. The objectives of this Poll & Debate, are to stimulate a healthy debate, and provide a time-capsule for future generations. The Poll statistic results shall be forwarded to CERN top officials, and even Stephen Hawking (if his staff will forward to him). The poll closes October 17, 2008, so pass it on, and get the word out. I have placed myself as a 'neutral observer' to be fair, and impartial, with the worldwide incoming 'reply' comments, becoming the debate. Thank you for the support, and don't forget to Vote!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.volconvo.com/forums/science-technology/22661-cern-lhc-alice-atlas.html
Remember: Go Ask Alice, I think she'll know!
http://lhccountdown.info/ for latest countdown and info
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease remove my name from your post. I did not authorize the use of my name by a third party in this forum.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRegards,
Teresa E. Tutt