The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that started preliminary experiments on September 10, 2008 in CERN, Geneva, and the planned International Linear Collider (ILC) will carry out a series of experiments in future to validate the standard model of particle physics. The model predicts that Higgs boson particles gives mass to all fundamental particles and explains the existence of dark matter, or invisible matter in between galaxies.
The LHC is a 27 kilometer long circular high energy particle accelerator which took more than 20 years and USD $9 billion to build. In the next few weeks the machine will collide opposing beams of protons charged with approximately 7 TeV of energy resulting in cataclysmic conditions that will mimic the beginning of time, a re-creation of the Big Bang. It is reported that the studies could also help treat diseases such as cancer, improve the Internet, develop systems for destroying nuclear waste and provide insights into climate change and open the door to travel through extra dimensions.
An upgraded version of the LHC was announced, nicknamed the “super LHC”. The new accelerator will perform ten times the number of collisions as the current the LHC over the same time. The upgrade will feature a new injection system and enhanced detectors to cope with the increase in data packets from collisions.
The bigger International Linear Collider, nicknamed “Einstein’s telescope”, is planned by the International Technology Recommendation Panel (ITRP). The ILC will have a collision energy of 500 GeV and will collide electrons with particles of antimatter, called positrons, along a 30-40 km completely straight tunnel. The ILC’s two giant “guns” pointing at each other would be able to accelerate electrons and positrons to near-light speeds before smashing them together.
“The LHC smashes protons together to discover new particles but also generates lots of debris that obscures the fine detail. The ILC would be a much cleaner machine and tell us far more about their real nature.” says Brian Foster, professor of experimental physics at Oxford University and European director of the project. The host country for the ILC has not yet been chosen but it is planned to have the machine constructed by late 2010. The new machine will cost an estimated USD $7 billion to build. Physicists hope that ILC might be able to resolve some of the questions raised by Einstein’s theories of relativity.
Backgrounder: Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of protons (one of several types of hadrons) with very high kinetic energy. Its main purpose is to explore the validity and limitations of the Standard Model, the current theoretical picture for particle physics. It is theorized that the collider will confirm the existence of the Higgs boson. This would supply a crucial missing link in the Standard Model and explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass.
The LHC was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and lies underneath the Franco-Swiss border between the Jura Mountains and the Alps near Geneva, Switzerland. It is funded by and built in collaboration with over eight thousand physicists from over eighty-five countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories. The LHC is operational and is presently in the process of being prepared for collisions. The first beams were circulated through the collider on 10 September 2008, and the first high-energy collisions are expected to take place after 6-8 weeks.
Although there have been questions concerning the safety of the Large Hadron Collider in the media and even through the courts, the consensus in the scientific community is that there is no conceivable threat from the LHC particle collisions.
Large Hadron Rap
(video credit: CERN employee Katherine McAlpine)
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