CERN - Large Hadron Collider Experiment

[sankara]

To bad nobody had anything to say on this french conspiracy theory document... :/

 

[dannybananny]

'Something may come through' dimensional 'doors' at LHC

Anyone who has watched a TV, read any sci-fi or seen any movies will be well aware that hyperdimensional spacewarp wormhole portals don't normally lead to anything boring like empty space, parallel civilisations where humanity lives in peace and harmony or anything like that.

Rather, it seems a racing cert that we're looking here at an imminent visit from a race of carnivorous dinosaur-men, the superhuman clone hive-legions of some evil genetic queen-empress, infinite polypantheons of dark nega-deities imprisoned for aeons and hungering to feast upon human souls, a parallel-history victorious Nazi globo-Reich or something of that type.

We took the matter up with Dr Mike Lamont, a control-room boffin at the LHC.

"We're hoping to see supersymmetry and extra dimensions," he confirmed.

Pressed on the matter of doors through which something might come, as hinted at by Bertolucci, Lamont rather elliptically said "well, he's a theorist", before recommending the book Warped Passages by physicist Lisa Randall. This explores ways in which extra-dimensional space and entities might interact with our own. It uses among others the example of how a sphere moving in 3D space would appear to someone living on a single 2D plane-space - that is as a mysterious circle suddenly blossoming into existence, growing, perhaps moving about and then shrinking down and vanishing again.

"There's no maths in it," added Lamont encouragingly, having assessed the intellectual level of the Reg news team with disconcerting percipience.

Summarising, then, it appears that we might be in for some kind of invasion by spontaneously swelling and shrinking spherical or wheel-shaped creatures - something on the order of the huge rumbling stone ball from Indiana Jones - able to move in and out of our plane at will. Soon the cities of humanity will lie in smoking ruins, shattered by the Attack of the Teleporting Juggernaut-tyrants from the Nth Dimension.

Dr Bertolucci later got in touch to confirm that yes indeed, there would be an "open door", but that even with the power of the LHC at his disposal he would only be able to hold it open "a very tiny lapse of time, 10-26 seconds, [but] during that infinitesimal amount of time we would be able to peer into this open door, either by getting something out of it or sending something into it.

"Of course," adds Bertolucci, "after this tiny moment the door would again shut, bringing us back to our 'normal' four dimensional world ... It would be a major leap in our vision of Nature, although of no practcal use (for the time being, at least). And of course [there would be] no risk to the stability of our world."

We say: Excellent. Who said the LHC was a waste of money?

TheRegister.co.uk

 

[Al Today]

[quote author=dannybananny] ... there would be an "open door" ... [/quote]

As Rod Serling of the Twilight Zone fame perhaps would say as an introduction:
Picture in your mind, visualize an exterior door. A door that stands between the inside of your home and opens to the wilderness outside... Ever notice on a windy day, or a day when there is a difference in air pressure between inside and outside... What happens when you open the door? Air rushes in the door (inhale), or air is sucked out the door (exhale). I wonder which way the wind blows when the 3D meets the Nth-Dimension.?.?.? And that door, that door stands between what we see and the unknown, what we could call "The Twilight Zone"...


Will something from Nth-Dimension get sucked into this realm, or will a stuff from our 3D world get blown out into the land of variable physicality, aka 4D.?.?.?

Just what could fall outta 3D here and scare the BeeGeeBus outta one of those unsuspecting 4D dudes.?.?.?



Here are a few other introductions:
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_(1959_TV_series)

You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into... the Twilight Zone.

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call "The Twilight Zone".

 

[fille des bois]

I have taken a look in the wave (book 2)
session 06-O9-95
Q: (L) I read in a book about a monster called the "Beast of Givaudan" which appeared first in 1764 and was supposedly done away with in 1767.Why or what was this beast?
A: Other dimensional "window faller"
Q(L) :You mean it fell into our dimension from another through a dimension window?
A: yes
(....)
Q(L) What about the Mothman in West Virginia ?
A: same
Q(L) So windows to others dimensions are the explanations for a whole host of strange things?
A: yes

The cassiopaeans give also a definition of dimensions and densities
A: (...) Dimensions are not densities !!! Dimensions are strictly the result of the universal consciousness as manifested in the imagination sector of thought. Densities mean levels of developments as measured in terms of closeness to union with the one cycle. :)

my two cents

 

[Al Today]

I wonder which way the wind blows when the 3D meets the Nth-Dimension.?.?.?

I must say that I have a tendency to throw words around. This may, probably generate confusion. I should remain consistant in proper terminology but sometimes I like to throw curveball for humors sake. Probably some ego thing.

A: (...) Dimensions are not densities !!! Dimensions are strictly the result of the universal consciousness as manifested in the imagination sector of thought. Densities mean levels of developments as measured in terms of closeness to union with the one cycle.

Back in the 1950's & 60's the science talk was of dimensions. Theory of Relativity and scthuff... I do not know if there was a discussion of densities, let alone if there was a theory? sometimes my sensate remembers as well as my memories. Seems as if I feel as I did at that time. When this happens I tend to use the word(s) of that day. I guess to preserve the state of mind at that "time'.

 

[John G]

I wonder which way the wind blows when the 3D meets the Nth-Dimension.?.?.?

I must say that I have a tendency to throw words around. This may, probably generate confusion. I should remain consistant in proper terminology but sometimes I like to throw curveball for humors sake. Probably some ego thing.

A: (...) Dimensions are not densities !!! Dimensions are strictly the result of the universal consciousness as manifested in the imagination sector of thought. Densities mean levels of developments as measured in terms of closeness to union with the one cycle.

Back in the 1950's & 60's the science talk was of dimensions. Theory of Relativity and scthuff... I do not know if there was a discussion of densities, let alone if there was a theory? sometimes my sensate remembers as well as my memories. Seems as if I feel as I did at that time. When this happens I tend to use the word(s) of that day. I guess to preserve the state of mind at that "time'.

You were obviously being humourous and since I lived most of my life in Rod Serling's hometown, I enjoyed it. I certainly wasn't analyzing yours or Dannybananny's post for scientific accuracy but since you bring it up now, you actually weren't that bad. The Cs can use the same terms in the Einstein sense or in a deeper sense (which physics-wise tends to be more of a many worlds quantum theory sense). Einstein-wise, from the transcripts:

Q: (A) What is the relation between the fourth density
that we know and the fifth dimension of Einstein and
Bergman?
A: Identical.

 

[fille des bois]

I wonder which way the wind blows when the 3D meets the Nth-Dimension.?.?.?

I must say that I have a tendency to throw words around. This may, probably generate confusion. I should remain consistant in proper terminology but sometimes I like to throw curveball for humors sake. Probably some ego thing.

A: (...) Dimensions are not densities !!! Dimensions are strictly the result of the universal consciousness as manifested in the imagination sector of thought. Densities mean levels of developments as measured in terms of closeness to union with the one cycle.

Back in the 1950's & 60's the science talk was of dimensions. Theory of Relativity and scthuff... I do not know if there was a discussion of densities, let alone if there was a theory? sometimes my sensate remembers as well as my memories. Seems as if I feel as I did at that time. When this happens I tend to use the word(s) of that day. I guess to preserve the state of mind at that "time'.

You were obviously being humourous and since I lived most of my life in Rod Serling's hometown, I enjoyed it. I certainly wasn't analyzing yours or Dannybananny's post for scientific accuracy but since you bring it up now, you actually weren't that bad. The Cs can use the same terms in the Einstein sense or in a deeper sense (which physics-wise tends to be more of a many worlds quantum theory sense). Einstein-wise, from the transcripts:

Q: (A) What is the relation between the fourth density
that we know and the fifth dimension of Einstein and
Bergman?
A: Identical.

Sorry Al today Dannybannany and Bluelamp if my post seemed a little condescending , it was not what I wanted . I wrote this post because I had just reread the wave 2 where I found this explanation about dimensions and densities and I was amused with the synchronicity. Nothing else

cheers

Moderator's note: Edited to fix the quotes.

 

[Al Today]

Sorry Al today Dannybannany and Bluelamp if my post seemed a little condescending , it was not what I wanted . I wrote this post because I had just reread the wave 2 where I found this explanation about dimensions and densities and I was amused with the synchronicity. Nothing else

Nawww... I didn't see your post as condescending. I can be confused and confusing...

 

[Human]

Some update on LHC...

_http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=13175

Recreating the Big Bang: The LHC is restarted

Friday, November 20, 2009

On the snow covered surface, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – made so vivid by the graphic, colourful and futuristic images that have decorated pages of the world's press in recent months – doesn't much look like the gateway to new insights into our universe.

Yet, pass down a 78 metre shaft at the foot of the Jura Mountains into the cathedral-sized Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment and it is easy to see what has tantalised the imagination of scientists, politicians and ordinary people the world over.

Just a short drive from Geneva, CMS – one of four particle detectors on the LHC – looks as if it has been built for rather sinister purposes. The work of an evil genius plotting to take over the world, perhaps? Or a hiding place for extra-terrestrial invaders? Its real function, as a particle detector designed to register the existence of the muon in its lifespan of two-millionths of a second, might not fire the imagination in quite the same way.

But dull this is not. Essentially, CMS is a 12,500 tonne digital camera, with 100 million pixels, capable of taking 40 million 3D pictures of particle collisions every second.

Thousands of powerful superconducting magnets, cooled using super-fluid helium to a chilly -271°C, direct proton beams in opposite directions around the 27km ring of the LHC at 99.9998% of the speed of light, focusing them at a scale less than the width of a human hair. It is up to CMS and three other particle detectors to capture what happens next.

Then it gets interesting. Billions of collisions happen every second in each of the detectors, generating so much energy that particles not seen since the Big Bang reappear briefly before disintegrating into cascades of more familiar particles – but not before enabling the equipment to record enough data to fill a stack of CDs over twice the size of Mount Everest.

The rewards for identifying what exactly happens in these collisions are likely to be astounding insights into the nature of mass, the matter of the universe, and even our understanding of the dimensions of space and time.

The latter, at least, is of course speculation. There is no solid evidence that the predictions, such as string-theory, which suggests that there are many more dimensions of space at the quantum level than we currently know about, will be confirmed, and far less that we will open up portals into a parallel universe.

But whatever is there, the hi-tech sub-detectors built into CMS and its sister experiments are lying in wait to collect the data that could lead to discoveries perhaps even beyond the imagination of the scientists who created them.

Top of the hit list for many is the discovery of the Higgs Boson, the particle believed to give objects mass.

The quest to find the Higgs Boson – or 'God Particle' as it has been referred to – goes back over 40 years to suburban Princeton, where then unknown scientist Peter Higgs delivered a lecture that laid down a gauntlet for physicists.

Numerous attempts to find the particle, which he suggested clings like treacle to other particles to give objects mass, have fallen flat because of lack of capital or insufficient technologies.

An attempt to build the Superconducting Super Collider in the US - where blueprints were laid down for the most powerful particle accelerator in the world – was halted with an abrupt withdrawal of funding in 1993.

More recently, particle detectors at Fermilab's Tevatron and the Large Electron-Positron Collider at CERN delivered slight indications that there was indeed something strange going on. But the evidence has been far from sufficient to enable scientists to confirm that it is the Higgs particle creating anomalies in data readings.

Now, with the LHC, the multi-billion pound race to find the Higgs particle is nearing a climax.

But what is all the fuss about? What is the Higgs Boson? And why bother building a £5.2bn machine to look for it? Similar questions were asked in 1993 by then UK Science Minister William Waldergrave, who challenged scientists to submit answers on a single sheet of paper for a competition.

The winning entry offered an analogy of Margaret Thatcher wandering through a cocktail party collecting hangers-on as she walks. And it is the Higgs particle's ability to fill space with a mysterious presence that makes it a crucial component in explaining why the known universe is filled with matter rather than anti-matter. Put simply: why there is something rather than nothing.

Currently, scientists have only been able to speculate as to the nature of the Higgs and its role in the theory that the four forces of nature are linked, incorporating gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force – which binds the constituents of atomic nuclei together – and the weak force – which governs radioactive decay in stars.

To confirm this and other complex theories that are necessary to explain the behaviour of particles, forces and matter, it is crucial that scientists determine what it is that creates mass.

Thus, the discovery of the Higgs particle is widely regarded as the most exciting prospect in modern particle physics. If there is no Higgs, scientists will need to rethink their theories.

But if Higgs exists, LHC will find it.

"One thing is for sure, we are going to find something," CMS Spokesperson Jim Virdee tells me, as we stand at the foot of the huge experiment.

"Without mass, we would not be here asking the question. We know the lower limit of the Higgs Boson as we have tried it in previous machines. We know what energy it is impossible at. The LHC covers the whole range."

With good quality data that could confirm the existence of the Higgs particle likely to be over 12 months away, this is an exasperating time if you want certainty as to its existence, but a good time if you like informed mystery.

Some of the world's leading minds have paid a visit to this site where we are standing now, including Stephen Hawking, who recently placed a £50 bet that the Higgs would not be found.

Many at CERN are convinced Hawking is wrong, and that the standard model – the theory created over the last 50 years by scientists to account for the particles of matter and the forces that work on them – will hold true.

But other physicists suggest that instead of a straight-forward answer, we will be presented with data pointing to the existence of composite particles or, rather more intriguingly, 'something else'.

"We want to find the Higgs Boson, but if we don't, it will also be extremely interesting," says Rolf Dieter-Heuer, CERN's new Director General. "If it is not the Higgs, then it has to be something that, on the theoretical level, pretends to be like the Higgs."

CERN's physicists believe they are now sensationally close to finding what that might be. But not all scientists believe that the Higgs particle would be the most dramatic – or important – discovery to come from the LHC.

Theoretical Physicist John Ellis has a bet of his own – not financial, but 25 years of research dedicated to the discovery of supersymmetry, the idea that for the existence of every particle in the universe, there is an invisible, overweight, twin known as a superpartner. Symmetry helps to unify theories and if supersymmetry could be proved, it might potentially bring together the classical theory of relativity with that of the four forces of nature.

"For me, the discovery of supersymmetry would be more exciting than finding the Higgs Boson," he says. "If supersymmetry were discovered, it would open up whole new vistas of physics to study. It would mean doubling all the particles that we know about."

Breakdown
The prospect of such discoveries – and the sheer scale of the LHC – has intrigued, perplexed and subsequently thrilled the world's media.

It is certainly a good day in particle physics when you have 300 captivated journalists camped out in your control room. And on that day, in September last year, LHC Project Leader Lyn Evans turned the machine on with the click of a mouse, and broadcasts of the experiment in action were beamed out live across the planet.

There were no hiccups, and the teams working on the LHC – unused to the spotlight – breathed a sigh of relief.

But nine days later, the machine – which involved over two decades of meticulous planning – came juddering to a halt when an uncontrolled release of one tonne of liquid helium caused damage to 53 super-conducting magnets.

The breakdown emphasised the fragility of the LHC and gave a strong indication of the scale of the challenge at hand.

"How often have people given back their stereos because they do not work?" asks Rolf Heuer. "One piece in 10,000 went wrong. We need to be very careful. Another breakdown is something that we must consider, and we need to exclude this possibility as much as we can."

This will require checks from outside experts, the implementation of an early warning system for future leaks, and a cautious approach when the machine begins operating again in the autumn.

In the future, however, one might look back on the breakdown as a minor blip given the challenges that scientists and engineers have faced since the LHC idea was first scribbled down on a page of A4 paper by a handful of physicists in the late 1980s.

The LHC was born in tough times. While the reunification of Germany – now CERN's biggest contributor – in 1990 undoubtedly signalled one of the most significant changes in the political geography of Europe, there was an initial reluctance to embark on new projects.

And European countries struggling to meet the criteria of the Maastrict Treaty needed significant persuasion to get on board.

"Getting over the political climate was not easy," says Lyn Evans. "We had to use a few tricks – like proposing a two stage construction that probably never could have worked."

"CERN's budget in real terms for the last three decades has been flat. We are getting by, by making big advances in technology. If there is a problem, you have to pick yourself up and fix it."

10 years ago, many of the technologies being employed by CMS and ATLAS did not even exist.

Jim Virdee leads me towards the middle of the CMS and excitedly points towards the barrel of the electromagnetic calorimeter (EmC). In the development stage of the EmC, it was discovered that lead tungstate crystals could detect the tiny twinklings produced by electromagnetic interactions in the calorimeter. Such observations are crucial when looking to identify the signatures of new particles.

Although physicists knew the technology would work, it required the painstaking growth of tens of thousands of these rare crystals if it was ever going to deliver on the scale that CMS required.

"We had to make a leap of imagination to go from something that exists in a handful of quantities to 75,000 crystals that could cope with the interaction of one billion pairs of protons every second, withstand significant levels of radiation and last for over 10 years," Virdee says. "But we did it."

After four years of painstaking R&D, prototype crystals were grown in Russian factories as physicists tested the best conditions for mass producing high quality crystals – then, when quality targets were exceeded, production was shared between institutes in Russia and China.

International collaborations
It is such international collaborations that have made the construction of the LHC possible.

Institutes connected with the LHC can be found in places as far-flung as Yerevan, Auckland, Tashkent, Sao Paulo, Kharkov and Iowa, providing knowledge, equipment and tools to deliver the various wires, magnets, coils, tanks, tubes and disks that I can see all around me in the CMS.

John Ellis, who is heavily involved in the development of CERN's external relations, believes that such collaboration is a clear force for progress.

"It is breaking down political barriers," he says. "You have Serbs working with Croats, Indians working with Pakistanis, Israelis working with Palestinians.

"This is useful on many levels. It enables some segments of the elites from those countries to engage with one another. It could serve as an example to politicians that collaboration is possible across almost impossible political divides."

So might such collaborations work on a different level? The development of an international co-ordinating body, believes Ellis, could have a significant impact on global challenges such as in mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Big science needs big facilities, often too great for any individual or country to fund. With collaboration, a series of major experiments could be set up that otherwise would not come about, through a changing cast of funding agencies.

"If you want to do a really comprehensive project looking at the changing conditions in the Antarctic, wouldn't it be better to have an organisation that co-ordinated all of the various activities?" Ellis asks. "Such an organisation exists on some levels, but not at the global level.

"Climate change is a very political issue, but hopefully with the new President in the US, a lot of the political heat will go out of it. Obama has said explicitly that he wants decision-making to be made on evidence, and if he wants to enhance the role of science in government, this might even be the sort of initiative that the US would be prepared to lead."

One of the key benefits of international science collaborations is that they are a big attraction to young people working towards degrees and research – these studies then become specific to the task at hand. And it is young people conducting this research who could bring about the ideas that provide solutions to the great challenges of our time.

Investment
You get a real feel for benefits of international science in the CERN cafeteria – known in physics circles as one of the 100 things to do before you die – as researchers, theorists and students from all over the world take time out to reflect on their ideas, discoveries and predictions.

"Think of the education and training you get here," says Rolf Heuer. "You conduct research in a truly international environment. You work together with people from many other cultures and nations. That educates you a lot. It is a fantastic education and it opens your mind."

One overriding question, however, is the concerns of some critics and academics that a number of other projects in energy, water and life sciences would provide better social, economic and environmental returns than the LHC.

While scientists admit that any commercial benefits from potentially discovering the Higgs particle are unknown, historically, investments in physics have led to returns of orders of magnitude higher than the initial outlay.

The worldwide web, transistors, electricity and GPS – reliant on Einstein's theory of relativity – are all examples of how theoretical research has paved the way for the development of revolutionary technologies.

Technology developed to make particle colliders has facilitated the development of Light Sources – accelerator-based sources of intense x-ray beams – that enable applied research in areas such as engineering, biology and physics that is not possible with conventional equipment.

And the networking of computers around the world to make them act as a single, powerful computer – known as Grid Computing – to analyse the LHC data could soon be another example of how technology used for particle physics can be rolled-out to the benefit of many other fields.

It is clear that there is much more to CERN than just particle physics. And the value added by advances in computing, international co-operation, advances in technology and inspiration to young people have ensured a widespread backing for funding in Europe and beyond.

Misinformation on the web
None of this will matter, of course, if the scientists who went to the European Court of Human Rights in a bid to prevent the LHC experiment taking place are right in asserting that such particle collisions will lead to the end of the world.

Headlines such as 'Big Bang could spell the end', 'Countdown to the end of the world' and 'Playing with our lives' illustrated how quickly unsubstantiated claims can spread with the help of the internet.

"You can roll 25 million straight sixes on a dice," says James Gilles, Director of the Communications Group. "This is possible. This is the sort of calculation that has been done about LHC."

The probability that the world would be swallowed up by a black hole, as doomsayers suggested it might, was established to be 1x10-24. Put into perspective, this would make it billions of times more likely that the sun will fail to rise tomorrow morning than the world end as a result of LHC collisions.

But while physicists have been able to shrug off accusations of trying to destroy the universe, the rapid spread of misinformation has highlighted the wider problem of the impact that Web 2.0 is having on people's perceptions of science.

"There is a measles epidemic in Switzerland," says Evans. "People are not vaccinating their babies. These kinds of situations are generated through uninformed opinion. This is a big worry about the internet – anyone can say anything. The general public has no critical faculty to filter the sensible stuff from the rubbish."

The issue is one that has affected many forms of science – from nanotechnology to stem cell research. Overcoming challenges of misinformation is perhaps one of the greatest obstacles to future scientific progress.

One method that CERN uses in addressing such problems: be inclusive and transparent.

One example is the fictional use of anti-matter for terrorist purposes in the Dan Brown novel 'Angels and Demons'. In reality, while anti-matter is produced in significant quantities in CERN laboratories, it would take billions of years to produce enough anti-matter to make a bomb. Rather than being defensive, CERN has embraced the opportunity to promote the issue – and there is a documentary on CERN to be included on the DVD of the forthcoming film.

The future
I was very fortunate to be so close to the Compact Muon Solenoid. Now the machine is in operation again, after 14 months of repairs, dangerous radiation levels leave this part of the experiment strictly out of bounds.

The start-up will resumes a process of continuous development that will pave the way for the particle physics of tomorrow. So what might the particle accelerators of the future look like?

One idea currently being worked on is an ambitious technology aimed at colliding electrons and positrons in the form of the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). The potential that this has for higher energies over shorter distances could deliver even greater insights into the nature of matter.

Another is the International Linear Collider (ILC) – a machine that, when constructed, could potentially achieve energies five times that of the LHC and raise the chances for finding totally unexpected phenomena.

Undoubtedly, new particle colliders will push levels of technology, innovation and research to unprecedented levels.

But despite the astonishing sophistication of the experiments that make up the LHC and its incumbents, in many ways particle physics is just a modern name for the centuries old quest to understand the fundamental laws of nature.

It is both the logic and momentum of that quest through the ages that has put us on the verge of new discoveries and greater understanding.

The logic is the Big Bang model of the universe – a persuasive and inclusive theory of the cosmos that continues to survive the challenges of observational falsification.

The momentum is the great effort to find out how we got here, alongside the revolutionary predictions, observations and discoveries by historic figures such as Galileo, Einstein, Hubble, Rutherford and Hoyle – and now the scientists behind the LHC experiment – in mankind's endeavour to learn more about the creation of our universe and its seeming expansion into infinity.

Sorry if this has already been covered by somebody else.

There is more coming... ;)

 

[Human]

Also this...

_http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=11379&topic=Science%20and%20technology

First proton beam collision complete

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has completed its first low-energy collision of protons.

Following extensive testing over the last few days, the LHC completed the initial collision with no apparent problems.

The LHC was originally due to launch 14 months ago, but an electrical fault led to one tonne of liquid helium leaking into a tunnel, causing extensive damage. Scientists have been working since then to repair the LHC and ensure the same problem will not occur again.

The LHC is smashing together beams of protons to shed light on the cosmos. Scientists will search for signs of the Higgs boson, a sub-atomic particle that is crucial to our current understanding of physics. Although it is predicted to exist, scientists have not yet detected it.

Researchers working on the collider have said they are delighted with the quick progress made since the machine restarted.

"It's a great achievement to have come this far in so short a time," said Cern's director-general Rolf Heuer.

"But we need to keep a sense of perspective - there's still much to do before we can start the LHC physics programme."

The giant Atlas detector was the first to record candidate collisions on 23 November at 1322 GMT. But CMS failed to see any on the first try. Alice and LHCb saw their first candidate collisions after 1600 GMT.

Operators then went back and adjusted the beam to generate collisions in the Compact Muon Solenoid detector. This time, they were successful, with the first candidates seen at around 1820 GMT.

Fabiola Gianotti, from the Atlas scientific team, said: "This is great news, the start of a fantastic era of physics and hopefully discoveries after 20 years' work by the international community."

The spokesman for the Alice experiment, Jurgen Schukraft, said cheers erupted with the first collisions.

"This is simply tremendous," he said.

 

[Human]

And this one about LHC becoming world's highest energy particle accelerator.

_http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2009/PR18.09E.html

LHC sets new world record

Geneva, 30 November 2009.

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider has today become the world’s highest energy particle accelerator, having accelerated its twin beams of protons to an energy of 1.18 TeV in the early hours of the morning. This exceeds the previous world record of 0.98 TeV, which had been held by the US Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Tevatron collider since 2001. It marks another important milestone on the road to first physics at the LHC in 2010.

“We are still coming to terms with just how smoothly the LHC commissioning is going,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “It is fantastic. However, we are continuing to take it step by step, and there is still a lot to do before we start physics in 2010. I’m keeping my champagne on ice until then.”

These developments come just 10 days after the LHC restart, demonstrating the excellent performance of the machine. First beams were injected into the LHC on Friday 20 November. Over the following days, the machine’s operators circulated beams around the ring alternately in one direction and then the other at the injection energy of 450 GeV, gradually increasing the beam lifetime to around 10 hours. On Monday 23 November, two beams circulated together for the first time, and the four big LHC detectors recorded their first collision data.

Last night’s achievement brings further confirmation that the LHC is progressing smoothly towards the objective of first physics early in 2010. The world record energy was first broken yesterday evening, when beam 1 was accelerated from 450 GeV, reaching 1050 GeV (1.05 TeV) at 21:48, Sunday 29 November. Three hours later both LHC beams were successfully accelerated to 1.18 TeV, at 00:44, 30 November.

“I was here 20 years ago when we switched on CERN’s last major particle accelerator, LEP,” said Accelerators and Technology Director Steve Myers. “I thought that was a great machine to operate, but this is something else. What took us days or weeks with LEP, we’re doing in hours with the LHC. So far, it all augurs well for a great research programme.”

Next on the schedule is a concentrated commissioning phase aimed at increasing the beam intensity before delivering good quantities of collision data to the experiments before Christmas. So far, all the LHC commissioning work has been carried out with a low intensity pilot beam. Higher intensity is needed to provide meaningful proton-proton collision rates. The current commissioning phase aims to make sure that these higher intensities can be safely handled and that stable conditions can be guaranteed for the experiments during collisions. This phase is estimated to take around a week, after which the LHC will be colliding beams for calibration purposes until the end of the year.

First physics at the LHC is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010, at a collision energy of 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam).

 

[durabone]

Ok, this seemed a bit unusual! (Couldn't find, apologies if already posted)

_http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/10/19/large-hadron-collider-sabotaged-future/

Large Hadron Collider 'Being Sabotaged from the Future'

[quote author=Newscorp Australian Papers]
Scientists claim the giant atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is being jinxed from the future to save the world.

In a bizarre sci-fi theory, Danish physicist Dr Holger Bech Nielsen and Dr Masao Ninomiya from Japan claim nature is trying to prevent the LHC from finding the elusive Higgs boson. Called the "God particle," the theoretical boson could explain the origins of mass in the universe — if physicists can find the darn thing.

The scientists say their math proves nature will "ripple backward through time" to stop the LHC before it can create the God particle, like a time traveller who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

“One could even almost say that we have a model for God,” Dr Nielsen says in an unpublished essay. “He rather hates Higgs particles, and attempts to avoid them.”

"While it is a paradox to go back in time and kill your grandfather, physicists agree there is no paradox if you go back in time and save him from being hit by a bus," Dannis Overbye wrote in the New York Times.

"In the case of the Higgs and the collider, it is as if something is going back in time to keep the universe from being hit by a bus."

“It must be our prediction that all Higgs producing machines shall have bad luck,” Dr Nielsen told the New York Times.

European science agency CERN designed the world's biggest particle accelerator to shoot beams around a freezing 27km concrete ring underground near Geneva, smashing atoms together in search of the elusive "God particle" believed present at the Big Bang.

The multi-billion-dollar machine, built over almost 20 years, was set to launch in late 2008 but broke down after it overheated during a test run.

The relaunch was pushed back to late 2009 as more parts had to be replaced, and CERN was recently scandalised when a LHC scientist was found to have approached al-Qaeda for work.

The LHC - which features in sci-fi plots such as Dan Brown's Angels and Demons and the new TV show FlashForward - has been dubbed a "doomsday device" with claims it will open black holes.

Last year, Professor Brian Cox of Manchester University told the UK Telegraph that LHC scientists had received threatening emails and phone calls demanding that the experiment be halted.

But Prof Cox, ex-keyboardist for 1990's pop group D:REAM, dismissed the hysteria in rock-star style.

"Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a tw—," he said.

The LHC is set to start up again next month.

- with Reuters[/quote]

 

[prasimix]

Published on Telegraph.co.uk

The Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest atom smasher, will shut down for a year to repair mistakes that were made in its construction.

By Ben Leach
Published: 9:17AM GMT 10 Mar 2010

Dr Steve Myers, a director of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which built the collider, said the machine will close at the end of a 2011.
The collider is expected to reach world record power later this month at 7 trillion electron volts (TeV) in its bid to replicate the big bang that started the universe.

But Dr Myers told the BBC that the faults will delay the machine reaching its full potential of 14TeV for two years.
"It's something that, with a lot more resources and with a lot more manpower and quality control, possibly could have been avoided but I have difficulty in thinking that this is something that was a design error," he said.
"The standard phrase is that the LHC is its own prototype. We are pushing technologies towards their limits."
"You don't hear about the thousands or hundreds of thousands of other areas that have gone incredibly well.
"With a machine like the LHC, you only build one and you only build it once."
It is the latest in a series of setbacks for the world's largest machine, which was first launched in September 2008 amid an international fanfare.
But just nine days later, the £5bn LHC suffered a spectacular failure from a bad electrical connection.
Fifty-three of 1,624 large superconducting magnets - some of them 50 feet long - were damaged and had to be replaced.
Then in November 2009, it emerged that further problems had been caused by a small piece of baguette dropped by a passing bird which landed in a piece of equipment on the surface above the accelerator ring.

 

[StrangeCaptain]

The Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest atom smasher, will shut down for a year to repair mistakes that were made in its construction.

Then in November 2009, it emerged that further problems had been caused by a small piece of baguette dropped by a passing bird which landed in a piece of equipment on the surface above the accelerator ring.

Wheat's bad for particle colliders, too!!! :P

 

[Human]

News from CERN...

http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2010/PR07.10E.html

LHC research programme gets underway

Geneva, 30 March 2010. Beams collided at 7 TeV in the LHC at 13:06 CEST, marking the start of the LHC research programme. Particle physicists around the world are looking forward to a potentially rich harvest of new physics as the LHC begins its first long run at an energy three and a half times higher than previously achieved at a particle accelerator.

“It’s a great day to be a particle physicist,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “A lot of people have waited a long time for this moment, but their patience and dedication is starting to pay dividends.”

“With these record-shattering collision energies, the LHC experiments are propelled into a vast region to explore, and the hunt begins for dark matter, new forces, new dimensions and the Higgs boson,” said ATLAS collaboration spokesperson, Fabiola Gianotti. “The fact that the experiments have published papers already on the basis of last year’s data bodes very well for this first physics run.”

“We’ve all been impressed with the way the LHC has performed so far,” said Guido Tonelli, spokesperson of the CMS experiment, “and it’s particularly gratifying to see how well our particle detectors are working while our physics teams worldwide are already analysing data. We’ll address soon some of the major puzzles of modern physics like the origin of mass, the grand unification of forces and the presence of abundant dark matter in the universe. I expect very exciting times in front of us.”

"This is the moment we have been waiting and preparing for", said ALICE spokesperson Jürgen Schukraft. "We're very much looking forward to the results from proton collisions, and later this year from lead-ion collisions, to give us new insights into the nature of the strong interaction and the evolution of matter in the early Universe."

“LHCb is ready for physics,” said the experiment’s spokesperson Andrei Golutvin, “we have a great research programme ahead of us exploring the nature of matter-antimatter asymmetry more profoundly than has ever been done before.”

CERN will run the LHC for 18-24 months with the objective of delivering enough data to the experiments to make significant advances across a wide range of physics channels. As soon as they have "re-discovered" the known Standard Model particles, a necessary precursor to looking for new physics, the LHC experiments will start the systematic search for the Higgs boson. With the amount of data expected, called one inverse femtobarn by physicists, the combined analysis of ATLAS and CMS will be able to explore a wide mass range, and there’s even a chance of discovery if the Higgs has a mass near 160 GeV. If it’s much lighter or very heavy, it will be harder to find in this first LHC run.

For supersymmetry, ATLAS and CMS will each have enough data to double today’s sensitivity to certain new discoveries. Experiments today are sensitive to some supersymmetric particles with masses up to 400 GeV. An inverse femtobarn at the LHC pushes the discovery range up to 800 GeV.

“The LHC has a real chance over the next two years of discovering supersymmetric particles,” explained Heuer, “and possibly giving insights into the composition of about a quarter of the Universe.”

Even at the more exotic end of the LHC’s potential discovery spectrum, this LHC run will extend the current reach by a factor of two. LHC experiments will be sensitive to new massive particles indicating the presence of extra dimensions up to masses of 2 TeV, where today’s reach is around 1 TeV.

“Over 2000 graduate students are eagerly awaiting data from the LHC experiments,” said Heuer. “They’re a privileged bunch, set to produce the first theses at the new high-energy frontier.”

Following this run, the LHC will shutdown for routine maintenance, and to complete the repairs and consolidation work needed to reach the LHC’s design energy of 14 TeV following the incident of 19 September 2008. Traditionally, CERN has operated its accelerators on an annual cycle, running for seven to eight months with a four to five month shutdown each year. Being a cryogenic machine operating at very low temperature, the LHC takes about a month to bring up to room temperature and another month to cool down. A four-month shutdown as part of an annual cycle no longer makes sense for such a machine, so CERN has decided to move to a longer cycle with longer periods of operation accompanied by longer shutdown periods when needed.

“Two years of continuous running is a tall order both for the LHC operators and the experiments, but it will be well worth the effort,” said Heuer. “By starting with a long run and concentrating preparations for 14 TeV collisions into a single shutdown, we’re increasing the overall running time over the next three years, making up for lost time and giving the experiments the chance to make their mark.”