Theory of Everything - View Single Post

neutralino · 01:25 PM

The LHC, or large hadron collider, is the latest, most powerful particle accelerator, that aims to recreate conditions in the very very early universe (that is, when the universe was around a billionth of a second old). It is based at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, but is an international project, supported by countries from around the world.

Scientists think that the universe began with a "big bang" and that ever since, the universe has been cooling down. Very early in the cooling process, the matter and forces that govern the universe at this day were created.

The LHC will produce extremely high energy by colliding atomic particles, or hadrons[4] that are travelling at very high speed. The higher the energy, the further back in the history of the universe we can observe. It is said that the LHC will produce energies roughly seven times larger than any other particle accelerator has ever managed.

It's hard to predict what will happen when the LHC is switched on, since it is testing areas and theories of physics that have never been able to be tested before. However, that is what makes it so interesting: it may find something completely new that we weren't expecting!

One of the most interesting theories the LHC will test was put forward by the UK physicist Professor Peter Higgs and others. Particles of light (known as photons) have no mass. Matter particles (such as electrons and quarks) do – and we’re not sure why. Higgs proposed the existence of a field (the Higg’s Field), which pervades the entire Universe and interacts with some particles and this gives them mass. If the theory is right then the field should reveal itself as a particle (the Higg’s particle). The Higg’s particle is too heavy to be made in existing accelerators, but the high energies of the LHC should enable us to produce and detect it.

There are various big questions that the LHC is expected, or hoped, to provide an answer to. These include

How did our universe come to be the way it is?
What kind of universe do we live in?
What happened in the big bang?
Where is the antimatter?
Why do particles have mass?
What is out universe made of?

There is a discussion of these questions in [1].

The LHC is due to become operational some time next year. So.. we wait with anticipation!

References
[1]LHC UK; big questions
[2]LHC UK
[3]LHC Homepage
[4]Hadrons, baryons and mesons

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neutralino Master Status: Offline Posts: 736 Thanks Given: 31 Thanked 114x in 97 Posts Join Date: Oct 2007 Rep Power: 12 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 1	LHC (Large Hadron Collider) - 11-29-2007, 07:00 AM The LHC, or large hadron collider, is the latest, most powerful particle accelerator, that aims to recreate conditions in the very very early universe (that is, when the universe was around a billionth of a second old). It is based at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, but is an international project, supported by countries from around the world. Scientists think that the universe began with a "big bang" and that ever since, the universe has been cooling down. Very early in the cooling process, the matter and forces that govern the universe at this day were created. The LHC will produce extremely high energy by colliding atomic particles, or hadrons[4] that are travelling at very high speed. The higher the energy, the further back in the history of the universe we can observe. It is said that the LHC will produce energies roughly seven times larger than any other particle accelerator has ever managed. It's hard to predict what will happen when the LHC is switched on, since it is testing areas and theories of physics that have never been able to be tested before. However, that is what makes it so interesting: it may find something completely new that we weren't expecting! One of the most interesting theories the LHC will test was put forward by the UK physicist Professor Peter Higgs and others. Particles of light (known as photons) have no mass. Matter particles (such as electrons and quarks) do – and we’re not sure why. Higgs proposed the existence of a field (the Higg’s Field), which pervades the entire Universe and interacts with some particles and this gives them mass. If the theory is right then the field should reveal itself as a particle (the Higg’s particle). The Higg’s particle is too heavy to be made in existing accelerators, but the high energies of the LHC should enable us to produce and detect it. There are various big questions that the LHC is expected, or hoped, to provide an answer to. These include How did our universe come to be the way it is? What kind of universe do we live in? What happened in the big bang? Where is the antimatter? Why do particles have mass? What is out universe made of? There is a discussion of these questions in [1]. The LHC is due to become operational some time next year. So.. we wait with anticipation! References [1]LHC UK; big questions [2]LHC UK [3]LHC Homepage [4]Hadrons, baryons and mesons Last edited by neutralino : 11-30-2007 at 01:25 PM.

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