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Post by swamprat on Feb 18, 2015 15:50:36 GMT -6
World's Largest Atom Smasher Returns: 4 Things It Could Findby Jesse Emspak, Live Science Contributor | February 18, 2015
The world's largest particle collider is gearing up for another run of smashing particles together at nearly the speed of light. After a two-year hiatus for upgrades, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will restart this year, and is expected to be twice as powerful as it was during its first run.
In 2012, the LHC helped to find evidence of the Higgs boson, the particle that is thought to explain how other particles get their mass. The discovery vindicated theoretical calculations made decades ago, and bolstered the Standard Model, the current framework of particle physics.
With the LHC slated to run at energies more powerful than any previous particle accelerator, what are physicists hoping to find now?
When the LHC fires up again this year, it will reach energies of 13 trillion electron volts, with enough current to melt 1 ton of copper. This run is expected to last until 2018.
At the 2015 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held Feb. 12-16 in San Jose, California, several researchers involved in the experiments spoke about their expectations for the coming years. "We'll see the first cracks in the Standard Model," said Michael Williams, assistant professor of physics at MIT, who uses data from the LHC to study matter and antimatter.
In a particle accelerator, a stream of protons — usually hydrogen or something heavy, like lead — is accelerated by magnetic fields in a 17-mile-long (27 kilometers) loop. The particles are accelerated to a velocity just a hair less than the speed of light and are then smashed into one another.
These collisions produce a cascade of subatomic particles and radiation that provide clues about the building blocks of matter. Some of these particles are new and are not usually seen outside of such collisions because they transform (or "decay") into more familiar types after only a tiny fraction of a second. For example, particle accelerators showed that protons were made of quarks and produced the W and Z bosons, which carry the weak nuclear force involved in radioactive decay. This is why particle physicists reach for ever-higher energies — the more energy in the collisions, the more heavy particles get produced, which means a greater chance that something interesting will show up.
Here are four things the LHC teams hope to find during the LHC's second run.
1. Supersymmetric partners Supersymmetry is a theory (or set of theories) that says particles, which are divided into two classes called bosons and fermions, are related and that every particle has a "partner." This means all the force-carrying particles (bosons) have a fermion partner, and all the fermions have boson partners. The gluino, for example, is the supersymmetric partner of the gluon. Gluons carry the strong nuclear force that holds protons and neutrons together, so they are bosons. Gluinos would therefore be fermions.
However, supersymmetric partners have not been detected yet. This is an issue because some of the theoretical calculations show that at least a few should have appeared by now. That said, as the LHC runs its second set of experiments, physicists hope that they will see these supersymmetric partners, which would help narrow down which version of supersymmetry theory is correct, if any.
2. More than one Higgs? The Higgs boson solved a major problem for the Standard Model, but it raised some important questions as well. Theories say there might be more than one kind, and the LHC's second run might help to answer how many Higgs bosons there are, and why the Higgs has the mass that it does. \
3. Dark matter Dark matter is the mysterious stuff that makes up some 25 percent of the mass and energy of the universe. Astronomers say there's about five times as much of it as normal matter, but dark matter only interacts with things via gravity. As such, a blob of dark matter in a box would be invisible. This makes it hard to figure out what it is.
The LHC, though, may generate enough energy to pop out a dark-matter particle from one of the collisions. Dark matter would have to be electrically neutral (no positive or negative charges) and not decay in a few seconds. "If we find something that looks like it could be dark matter at the LHC, we would try to measure as much as we can about it … and hopefully get hints of how to detect it directly in other experiments," said Jay Hauser, a physicist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
4. Solving some problems of the Big Bang Using heavier proton beams, such as gold or lead, the LHC will allow physicists to see what conditions were like just a few billionths of a billionth of a billionth of a second after the birth of the universe. Exploring how matter behaves under these conditions can offer insights into how the universe evolved to appear as it does — why the first matter was mostly hydrogen and helium, and why it has the proportion of matter and antimatter that it does.
www.livescience.com/49852-large-hadron-collider-future-discoveries.html
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2015 18:08:13 GMT -6
Amazing stuff..but more amazing are the brains that conceived it..and um..understand it. Paint me igannant but if my brain were a cartoon..it would be the right side of my brain with a choke hold on the left chanting no math..no math... This is off subject but every time I look at this I'm stupefied that 'that' thing...that mass of flesh is SO bloody cognizant. Dumbfounded I am. www.livescience.com/32935-whats-the-difference-between-the-right-brain-and-left-brain.html
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2015 5:12:08 GMT -6
1. Supersymmetric partners Supersymmetry is a theory (or set of theories) that says particles, which are divided into two classes called bosons and fermions, are related and that every particle has a "partner." This means all the force-carrying particles (bosons) have a fermion partner, and all the fermions have boson partners. The gluino, for example, is the supersymmetric partner of the gluon. Gluons carry the strong nuclear force that holds protons and neutrons together, so they are bosons. Gluinos would therefore be fermions. However, supersymmetric partners have not been detected yet. This is an issue because some of the theoretical calculations show that at least a few should have appeared by now. That said, as the LHC runs its second set of experiments, physicists hope that they will see these supersymmetric partners, which would help narrow down which version of supersymmetry theory is correct, if any. Read more: theedgeofreality.proboards.com/thread/5462/super-collider-round#ixzz3SHa70XVUwell, isn't the "partner" supposed to be off somewhere else? possibly the other side of the globe?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2015 5:15:15 GMT -6
Amazing stuff..but more amazing are the brains that conceived it..and um..understand it. Paint me igannant but if my brain were a cartoon..it would be the right side of my brain with a choke hold on the left chanting no math..no math... This is off subject but every time I look at this I'm stupefied that 'that' thing...that mass of flesh is SO bloody cognizant. Dumbfounded I am. www.livescience.com/32935-whats-the-difference-between-the-right-brain-and-left-brain.htmlIn general, the left hemisphere is dominant in language: processing what you hear and handling most of the duties of speaking. It's also in charge of carrying out logic and exact mathematical computations. When you need to retrieve a fact, your left brain pulls it from your memory. The right hemisphere is mainly in charge of spatial abilities, face recognition and processing music. It performs some math, but only rough estimations and comparisons. The brain's right side also helps us to comprehend visual imagery and make sense of what we see. It plays a role in language, particularly in interpreting context and a person's tone. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. makes "sense" to me
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Post by swamprat on Feb 22, 2015 12:38:34 GMT -6
OK! Starting this week, gonna start building a new house on the beach! Gonna order a 46 foot cabin cruiser! Just ordered a new car and a new truck! Join in on the fun! After all, after March, we won't have to worry about payin for ANY of it!! CERN To Attempt ‘Big Bang’ In March, Stephen Hawking Issues Warning Posted by Sean Adl-Tabatabai in Sci/Environment
CERN is due to re-open the Large Hadron Collider in March of 2015 in order to recreate the big bang, despite warnings from top scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Neil de Grasse Tyson.
Dr. Hawking recently warned that the reactivation in March of CERN’s large hadron collider could pose grave dangers to our planet…the ultimate reality check we are warned. Hawking has come straight out and said the ‘God particle’ found by CERN “could destroy the universe” leaving time and space collapsed.
Is CERN the most dangerous thing in the cosmos that could lead to the ultimate destruction of the Earth and the entire universe?
Astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson has also sounded the alarm in a hypothetical manner by telling anyone who might want to ‘blow up a planet’ how to do so…is this CERN’s attempt to do so by attempting to ‘recreate’ the big bang within a man made structure that has frightened Stephen Hawking so much? Do they know that they know that they know what they’re doing? “Ask yourself: how much energy is keeping it together?” Neil deGrasse Tyson told co-host Eugene Mirman on his Star Talk radio show. “Then you put more than that amount of energy into the object. It will explode.”
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2015 23:15:52 GMT -6
I keep thinking, several of us once had a "vision" of life here on Earth without electricity.
When that didn't happen, and the "uneasiness of somethings going to happen (but WHAT?)" went away, well, someone just couldn't handle the resulting peace.
(Can we take a poll here on TEOR, and see how many people think a disaster of some sort is still coming? )
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Post by skywalker on Feb 27, 2015 21:26:50 GMT -6
Is a disaster coming?? I would say a disaster has been here for six years. I'm still waiting for him to go away. Or did you mean like a big explosion or something? I don't know which would be worse... Actually, yes I do. Bring on the explosions!!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2015 12:03:36 GMT -6
keep me laughing, buddy! (been laughing sporadically for 2 days now. Including laughing at myself trying to get the last word! LOL)
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Post by swamprat on Mar 1, 2015 12:37:20 GMT -6
"I would say a disaster has been here for six years. I'm still waiting for him to go away."
You talkin 'bout me?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 11:32:58 GMT -6
I've always felt uneasy about the Hadron Collider, never quite convinced that someone or something didn't try to stop it a couple of years back when they had to shut it down. My brain cells are considering that if something did buckle space in some way or open a hole or any unforeseen lethal adventure..it might not just effect us. OR..we might be the least effected of worlds in close proximity to ours. Another reason 'visitors' might want to keep a check on the arrogant scientists of planet earth. Brings to mind the terminator..not the -xguvanator..but the idea behind it. Go back and try to prevent the deed that undid something in the future. We (in our arrogance) figure we understand physics. I'm sure we do..as far as our wee brains reach. There may be a whole set of extended rules we haven't 'groked' yet ('comprehended'..ref to Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein). We may not just be responsible for our world but billions of neighbors we don't know exist..but in theory.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2015 0:38:37 GMT -6
Surely some of these guys are having "gut feelings" also?? This isn't one of those situations were a scientist can throw all caution to the wind, and claim "science" won't progress until they do this . . Its creepy. This isn't just one genius, for example; Nik Tesla making some half-wild discoveries. Am I supposed to have some confidence just because more people are involved with this experiment?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2015 12:19:26 GMT -6
I don't think scientists are the most cautious folk..they operate and exist in a land of theory..pinging equations around in their minds at the speed of light and no brakes. The possibility that exists to do something doesn't mean you should. The funny thing is..they have a 'theory' about dark matter and god particles and atoms bursting with energy..but no theories on protocols and cautions. So..no..don't feel secure LOL
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Post by swamprat on Jun 4, 2015 8:47:15 GMT -6
Large Hadron Collider experiments are back in business at a new record energy
June 3, 2015
Collisions seen within the ALICE experiment's detector. Credit: ALICE/CERN
Today, CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) started delivering physics data for the first time in 27 months. After an almost two year shutdown and several months re-commissioning, the LHC is now providing collisions to all of its experiments at the unprecedented energy of 13 TeV, almost double the collision energy of its first run. This marks the start of season 2 at the LHC, opening the way to new discoveries. The LHC will now run round the clock for the next three years.
"With the LHC back in the collision-production mode, we celebrate the end of two months of beam commissioning," said CERN Director of Accelerators and Technology Frédérick Bordry. "It is a great accomplishment and a rewarding moment for all of the teams involved in the work performed during the long shutdown of the LHC, in the powering tests and in the beam commissioning process. All these people have dedicated so much of their time to making this happen."
Today at 10:40am, the LHC operators declared "stable beams," the signal for the LHC experiments that they can start taking data. Beams are made of "trains" of proton bunches moving at almost the speed of light around the 27 kilometre ring of the LHC. These so-called bunch trains circulate in opposite directions, guided by powerful superconducting magnets. Today the LHC was filled with 6 bunches each containing around 100 billion protons. This rate will be progressively increased as the run goes on to 2808 bunches per beam, allowing the LHC to produce up to 1 billion collisions per second.
During the first run of the LHC, the ATLAS and CMS experiments announced the discovery of the so-called Higgs boson, which was the last piece of the puzzle known as the Standard Model, a theory that describes the fundamental particles from which everything visible in the universe is made, along with interactions at work between them.
"The first 3-year run of the LHC, which culminated with a major discovery in July 2012, was only the start of our journey. It is time for new physics!" said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. "We have seen the first data beginning to flow. Let's see what they will reveal to us about how our universe works."
With run 2 starting today, physicists have the ambition to further explore the Standard Model and even to find evidence of new physics phenomena beyond its boundaries, which could explain remaining mysteries such as dark matter, believed to make up about a quarter of the universe, or nature's apparent preference for matter over antimatter, without which we would not exist.
Over the two-year shutdown, the four large experiments ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb also went through an important programme of maintenance and improvements in preparation for the new energy frontier.
"The collisions we are seeing today indicate that the work we have done in the past two years to prepare and improve our detector has been successful and marks the beginning of a new era of exploration of the secrets of nature," said CMS spokesperson Tiziano Camporesi. "We can hardly express our excitement within the collaboration: this is especially true for the youngest colleagues."
"The successful restart of physics data-taking, with all systems in great shape to collect, process and analyse the new data quickly, is a testament to the commitment and immense hard work of very many people from across ATLAS during the long shutdown," said ATLAS spokesperson Dave Charlton. "We are now starting to delve into the new data to see what nature has in store for us at these new unexplored energies."
"All within the collaboration are tremendously excited that the new run has now begun," said LHCb spokesperson Guy Wilkinson. "It will allow us to follow up on puzzles from our run-1 studies, and to probe with higher sensitivity the difference in behaviour between matter and antimatter."
"Proton-proton collisions will provide essential reference data for the run with heavy-ion beams foreseen for the end of the year, in which the LHC will provide both higher energy and luminosity as compared to run 1," said ALICE spokesperson Paolo Giubellino. "In addition, we plan to extend the exploration of the intriguing signals that have emerged from Run 1."
In addition to these large collaborations, three smaller experiments -- TOTEM, LHCf and MoEDAL -- will be among those searching for new physics at the LHC's new energy frontier of 13 TeV.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150603083158.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmatter_energy+%28Matter+%26+Energy+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
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Post by swamprat on Jun 4, 2015 9:01:52 GMT -6
Did you know? Mosquitoes are involved in the LHC equations! LHC Glossary TeV
A TeV is a unit of energy used in particle physics. 1 TeV is about the energy of motion of a flying mosquito. What makes the LHC so extraordinary is that it squeezes energy into a space about a million million times smaller than a mosquito.
TeV stands for tera electron Volts. That is 1,000,000,000,000 electron Volts or 1012 electron Volts.
An electron volt is an unit of energy, particularly used in atomic and nuclear processes. It is the energy given to an electron by accelerating it through 1 volt of electric potential difference.
The abbreviation for electron volt is eV.
An adult female mosquito weighs only about 2.0 milligrams (about 1/15,000 ounce).
1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 Joules
1 TeV = 1.6 x 10-19 x 1012 Joules = 1.6 x 10-7 Joules
1/2 m v2 = 1.6 x 10-7 Joules, m = 2 x 10-6 kg therefore v = 0.4 m/s = 1.4 kph Apparently Mosquitoes can fly about 1 to 1.5 miles per hour. 1 mph = 1.6 kph so our mosquito is a little slow, but the comparison is a good one. Restarting the LHC: Why 13 Tev? The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is scheduled to restart for physics early in 2015 after two years of maintenance and upgrading. The collision energy at restart will be 13 TeV, a significant increase over the initial three-year LHC run, which began with a collision energy of 7 TeV, rising to 8 TeV. But the LHC was designed to run at a maximum collision energy of 14 TeV, so why has CERN decided to start the second run at a lower energy?
The decision to begin the LHC’s second run at 13 TeV has been taken in order to optimise the delivery of particle collisions for physics research, and thereby speed the route to potential new physics. It is based on the properties of the 1232 superconducting dipole magnets that guide the beams around the LHC’s 27-kilometre ring. The higher the beam energy, the higher the magnetic field needed to maintain a constant orbit, and the higher the electric current flowing in the magnet’s superconducting coils.
At LHC beam energies, the electric currents are extremely high, up to 12,000 Amperes, and superconducting cables have to be used. Superconductivity is a low-temperature phenomenon, so the coils have to be kept very cold, just 1.9 degrees above absolute zero to be precise, or about -271°C. Even a tiny amount of energy released into the magnet for any reason can warm the coils up, stopping them from superconducting. When this happens, the current has to be safely extracted in a very short time. This is called a quench, and just one millijoule – the energy deposited by a 1-centime euro coin falling from 5 cm – is enough to provoke one. Magnet protection in case of quenches is a crucial part of the design of the LHC’s magnetic system.
When a new superconducting magnet is qualified for use, it needs to be trained. That involves steadily increasing the current until the magnet quenches, then starting again. At first, the quenches may occur at relatively low current, but over time, as the components of the magnet settle in, the current increases until the magnet can be operated routinely at its nominal current. If a new training cycle is started after an extended period during which the magnet is warm, the magnet usually restarts training at a value that is higher than first quench in the first training cycle but lower than the maximum previously reached. In other words, the magnet’s ‘memory’ is usually less than 100%.
Before the LHC started operation, all of its magnets were trained up to a current equivalent to a collision energy of over 14 TeV. Tests with individual magnets, along with hardware commissioning tests in 2008, have shown that for some dipole magnets the memory is slightly lower than expected, demanding a larger number of quenches to reach nominal field. However, retraining these magnets to 13 TeV should require only a short period of time, whereas retraining to 14 TeV would take longer, taking time away from physics research. That’s why the best way to get to new results quickly, at an energy considerably higher than ever achieved before, is to start operation at 13 TeV. A decision on when to go higher will be taken at a later date in the LHC’s second run.
home.web.cern.ch/about/engineering/restarting-lhc-why-13-tev
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Post by patsbox7 on Jun 5, 2015 1:56:22 GMT -6
It is so incredible that we have built a 15 kilometer ring underground to conduct these studies. I have been following the LHC ever since they fired it up for the first time. Everything they do with it is WAY out of my element, but seriously fascinating none the less.
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Post by patsbox7 on Jun 5, 2015 1:59:00 GMT -6
Do you guys think there is more to the LHC than they lead us to believe? I have read that they are using it to collect antimatter, create extra dimensional gateways, etc.
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