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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!
For me, I have always looked forward to experiments like the LHC, like a child waiting for Christmas. I personally believe in the potential of the 'Higgs particle'. It sure would add to particle science, if found. I personally believe that quarks are made up of smaller particles, and it would be nice to add to the extended family of Physics.
Allen.
Paradox of Potential popped Aware.
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein 1879 - 1955
"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -- Galileo Galilei.
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Re: LHC (Large Hadron Collider) -
11-30-2007, 06:14 AM
I understand why, as I feel the same, especially for this collider. Even if the LHC doesn't find the Higgs, then I'm pretty sure it'll find something new. It's possible that a completely new, unpredicted particle will show up. So, I think either way, the outcome of the LHC is going to greatly affect science of the next few decades.
~neutralino
If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day - John A. Wheeler.
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