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It's taken almost two and a half years, but last week a federal appeals court shut down a challenge to Europe's Large Hadron Collider that was based on claims it could destroy the world.
The original lawsuit, filed in March 2008 by retired nuclear safety officer Walter Wagner and Spanish journalist Luis Sancho, was thrown out of federal court in Hawaii that September, basically on jurisdictional grounds. However, the plaintiffs kept the case alive by appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Wagner and Sancho said the initial court ruling neglected to take full account of their concern that the LHC could create globe-gobbling black holes, strangelets or other exotic and catastrophic phenomena.
During the appeals process, a trio of physicists — including Harvard's Richard Wilson as well as Nobel laureates Sheldon Glashow and Frank Wilczek — filed a friend-of-the-court brief pointing out that the doomsday scenarios suggested by Wagner and Sancho had no realistic chance of occurring. That echoed earlier findings about the LHC's safety. But in the end, a three-judge panel rejected the appeal for legal rather than scientific reasons. Here's the text of the Aug. 24 memorandum, which is also available from the court as a PDF file:
"Walter L. Wagner ('Wagner') appeals the district court's dismissal of his claim against the United States Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation (collectively, 'the U.S. government'), and others. The parties are familiar with the facts of this case, which we repeat here only to the extent necessary to explain our decision. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.
"This court can affirm on any ground supported by the record. Cook v. AVI Casino Enters., Inc., 548 F.3d 718, 722 (9th Cir. 2008). We review questions of standing de novo, Mayfield v. United States, 599 F.3d 964, 970 (9th Cir. 2010), and factual findings for clear error. Robinson v. United States, 586 F.3d 683, 685 (9th Cir. 2009). To establish standing, Wagner must demonstrate (1) an 'injury in fact,' (2) 'a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of' that is not attributable to 'the independent action of some third party not before the court,' and (3) a likelihood that a favorable decision will redress the injury. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61 (1992).
"Wagner cannot demonstrate that he has standing. A plaintiff alleging a procedural injury, such as Wagner, must still establish injury in fact. See Laub v. U.S. Dep't. of Interior, 342 F.3d 1080, 1086 (9th Cir. 2003). Injury in fact requires some 'credible threat of harm.' Cent. Delta Water Agency v. United States, 306 F.3d 938, 950 (9th Cir. 2002). At most, Wagner has alleged that experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (the 'Collider') have 'potential adverse consequences.' Speculative fear of future harm does not constitute an injury in fact sufficient to confer standing. Mayfield, 599 F.3d at 970.
"Even if Wagner has demonstrated injury in fact, he nevertheless fails to satisfy the causality or redressability prongs set out in Lujan. The European Center for Nuclear Research ('CERN') proposed and constructed the Collider, albeit with some U.S. government support. The U.S. government enjoys only observer status on the CERN council, and has no control over CERN or its operations. Accordingly, the alleged injury, destruction of the earth, is in no way attributable to the U.S. government's failure to draft an environmental impact statement.
"CERN maintains total ownership, management, and operational control of the Collider. CERN has never been properly served, and is not a party to this case. Even if this court were to render a decision in Wagner's favor, such a decision would have no impact on CERN or Collider operations, and would not afford Wagner the relief he seeks. (1)
"AFFIRMED
"(1) Because our determination of standing is not dependent on the identity of the Appellant, we need not address whether Luis Sancho is a party to this appeal."
My efforts to contact Wagner by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful today, but if I hear anything I'll pass it along. Because Wagner has been representing himself in court, the costs of continuing the legal battle have so far been relatively low.
A report about the ruling on Homeland Security News Wire notes that a similar court case in Germany was thrown out in March because the woman behind the challenge could not "give a coherent account of how her fears would come about."
On the French-Swiss border, meanwhile, the Large Hadron Collider's intensity was kicked up to a new level last week, and that trend is expected to continue over the coming months. The current plan calls for the LHC to be in operation through 2011 at half-power. After a yearlong maintenance period, the power will be ramped up to the maximum level of 7 trillion electron volts per beam in 2013.
To find out more about the LHC and the discoveries it could make, check out our special report on the "Big Bang Machine."
Update for 11:56 p.m. ET Sept. 1: Walter Wagner called me back and said that he intends to seek a review of the three-judge panel's ruling by the entire Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The way he figures it, he has about five weeks to file his request. (The rules provide for a 45-day period after the ruling was issued, which in this case was on Aug. 24.) Thus, it might be a little premature to say the case is completely closed.
Tip o' the Log to David Harris at Symmetry Breaking, and also to RPenner, who provided play-by-play from the appeals court hearing in June. (The court also has provided audio of the hearing.)
Join the Cosmic Log corps by signing up as my Facebook friend or hooking up on Twitter. And if you really want to be friendly, ask me about "The Case for Pluto."
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We're all done for, we're done for I tell ya!
Several prominent physicist testify saying, "Well look, it's not that it can't happen, but we're willing to risk everyone's lives for a shot at glory. Hey you can't appease the gods without spilling a little blood. And don't forget, we're like really really smart and stuff. Live long and prosper"
You're an idiot.
And yet laymen wonder why they cannot comprehend physics.
Agreed!
@Ram - You agree with the moron? Seriously, biblical rants make more logical sense.
Sean and President Jefferson,
Apparently, you two couldn't tell that the idiot (and moron) was merely having a bit of fun. I am currently working on becomming a research mathematician and happen to be very excited about the collider research. Maybe you two should learn to turn down your "religious" fervor a bit.
Does it really threaten your hopes and dreams that there are people out there truely concerned and afraid? While I'm not personally bothered by this research. I have worked as a research assistant for two different Professors who were in fact very careless with the life and safety of the people who they worked with. One was working on High Tc superconductors and exposed people to very dangerous chemicals without their knowledge. The other maintained a radiation laboratory and "forgot" about an open lead container he left in a basement lab containing cobalt-60. I discovered it a month later making a routine (my routine - not theirs) sweep of the basement labs with a geiger counter.
I've worked with enough researchers to know not to place my life entirely in anyone else's hands expecting them to watch out for my safety. My personal experiences make me more concerned about our highly intelligent scientist than about the high school dropout operating the crane at the construction site next door.
No Sean, not with the moron, another post (yours) came just before mine, I agree completely with Jeferson, the guy is a complete idiot
And when they tested the Hydrogen Bomb prominent scientists swore the atmosphere would catch fire and be destroyed!
In the mid 1800's, when the first steam train was going to set a record speed of over 50 miles per hour, prominent scientists said everyone on board would suffocate due to the speed whipping the air by so fast it would cause vacuums in the cars!
Progress is always met with nay sayers -- some even with prominent degrees!
Considering fire consumes oxygen, it's not far from the truth. By most studies of the potential effects on the earth after a nuclear war, whatever atmospheric protection from the sun we enjoy would be destroyed.
Maybe these guys should sue all the nations with nuclear weapons. At least the 'probable cause of harm' part would be satisfied.
If the sun were to turn into a black hole tomorrow, we wouldn't get gobbled up by it. We would continue to rotate around it. Granted we would freeze to death, but we wouldn't be consumed because no more mass pulling us towards it was created. So what is a black hole the created by two protons going to do? The answer is NOTHING. The sun has a heck of a lot more than just 2 protons. These claims to stop it are exactly the same types of claims that said people would suffocate on a train at 50 mph.
Absolutely true! It may form a black hole- which will disappear as quickly as it was formed.
If some people had their way we would still be wearing bear skins.
I knew we should have stayed in the ocean.
It looks like the Technocore suffered another setback?
I've read theories suggesting the formation of black holes is probably far more common than originally thought. They form and then blip out as fast as they appeared. By comparison, it would make the monstrous things astrophysics say is at the center of the galaxies pretty rare.
Am as curious as anyone to see what happens. Still, this is an experiment to recreate what happens at the outer edges of the Universe, here on earth. God's building blocks (if you will), from matter to anti-matter all the way down to the elusive higgs boson. The things that create universes and solar systems and suns and planets. The black holes and white dwarfs that people like Stephen Hawkings talks about. When reverse engineered, the events and stuff that leads back to our very existence. There is definitely the real possibility that something funky and unpredictable can happen, don't need a PHD in particle physics to see that. If after this thing goes bang and I go outside and see spider wasps and pinhead am going to be really upset. Will fire off a disgruntled e-mail to CERN management for shizle. Hope those geniuses from Eureka are on standby to figure out how to put humpty dumpty back together again.
Because the moon still exists, we do not have to worry about high energy collisions at CERN. Higher energy collisions happen on the moon, also in a vacuum, every second from high energy protons and the moon has not been swallowed by a black hole.
I think that just about says it all. Thank you.
You don't even need to go to the moon, the collisions happen in our own atmosphere every day at much higher energies than the LHC is capable of. The earth is still here.
If they are so common in Earths atmosphere, in Microwave ovens and peoples bathrooms, why do we need a gazzilion dollar LHC? Once the experiment is complete, will the LHC be useful for anything else?
Because we can't put the detectors, which weigh many tons, into the upper atmosphere and sit there and wait for the particles to hopefully hit at the precise location, energies and angles needed to record the events, especially at the volume we need to verify the events we're looking for.
The LHC will be used continuously for its lifetime for various experiments - as has every other particle accelerator ever built.
Even IF they run out of experiments they can still use it for creating medical isotopes
Anyone that thinks that two protons smashing together could create a black hole that will swallow the Earth are Morons and do not have any grasp of science. Its all about mass people, I swear I think some people just want to file suit to get their 15 minutes of fame or for the drama effect. use some common sense, the only things we have to fear is fear.
Since aluminum foil isn't magnetic,none of these people will lose their helmets.
Actually it is. Its just not ferromagnetic. Try dropping a magnet down an aluminum tube side by side with a plastic tube. Fun science experiment for kids.
Whne is this Large Hardon Collider going to do what it's supposed to do?
It's been doing it for a few months now. It's currently operating at 7 TeV, about half of its designed output. They're planning to operate at that level through 2011 before a maintenance shutdown. Then they plan to ramp it up after that to its full 14 TeV operating level.
Close, Elentir. It's currently operating at half of the maximum, but 7 TeV is the proposed maximum, not the current strength.
Wrong, 14 TeV is the proposed maximum, 7 TeV per beam with two colliding beams equals 14 TeV collison. It is currently operating at 7 TeV, 3.5 TeV per beam.
Actually, that is what I was thinking too based on the wiki stats. Didn't think 14 is what I remembered reading from past articles. Put this in laymans terms, looks like 547 tev per nucleus. Put this in laymens terms please.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
Where are you seeing 547 TeV?
In layman's terms, 600,000,000 TeV is equivalent to the amount of energy required to power a 100 Watt light bulb for 1 second. The most energetic cosmic particle ever observed in our atmosphere came in at about half this amount.
elentir, you're argument that the LHC is operating at half power at 7 TeV is new to most people. The operating capability of the LHC was marked at 7 TeV full power each beam. Thats what is required to energize the device. 14TeV is speculation that you would get a 100 percent energy conversion. No one else is using your numbers that I have ever heard of.
It is possible to get rare collisions that are close to full energy conversions that might get close to 14 TeV, but that is still speculation and to claim that the accelerator is a reliable source of that energy is just not true.
@chadly2cents - I found what you were referring to for the 547. It was actually 574, which is the energy of lead isotope nuclei in the LHC. The isotope used is Pb-82+. 82 particles @ 7 TeV each equals 574 TeV.
@EnergyVetBoomer - CERN reports their numbers and capabilities using both sets of numbers. The report on March 30th on their twitter site stated "#LHC is now ramping down. This closes the first physics fill of protons at 7 TeV.Thanks for following and goodbye for today." On Jun 28th they state "Collisions provided by the LHC to experiments over the weekend doubled the total since 7 TeV collisions began on March 30."
And, according to CERN's website: At full power, trillions of protons will race around the LHC accelerator ring 11 245 times a second, travelling at 99.99% the speed of light. Two beams of protons will each travel at a maximum energy of 7 TeV (tera-electronvolt), corresponding to head-to-head collisions of 14 TeV. Altogether some 600 million collisions will take place every second.
I have seen it reported similarly on many news sites as well as used by other people on blogs and forums, so it is not by any means 'new to most people'.
I fully realize that they will not get 100% conversion all the time, but they will get very close to that and the input energies will also fluctuate slightly more and less than 7 TeV, resulting in the averages being very close to 14 TeV. Close enough to accurately use that figure in everyday usage when discussing it. And I particularly use the higher results because that is what the collision energies are at, which is the more important totals for producing the results they are looking for. If they were running one beam and colliding the particles at a stationary target (like what occurs in our atmosphere more or less) then the collision energies would equate to the particle energy (again given 100% energy conversion).
Actually, I got that wrong in my last paragraph of my previous post. According to CERN, the collision energy for a single beam hitting a stationary target is "proportional to the square root of the energy of the particle hitting the target".
So what, about 14 100-watt light bulbs then, right?
@Dennis - It would take about 43 million collisions at 14 TeV each to produce the same energy of a 100 W light bulb for 1 second.
@elentir - I was just trying to see if I had this right... people are afraid that something like this would produce something powerful enough to wipe out our entire planet.
Just seems silly to me, on the whole. Just real silly.
Just curious? What if a black matter subject is created and thereby briefly studied until it is realized it will not slow as the scientist are unable to slow its pull? Doest it remain in infinate suspenion in the machine? Or is it simply turned off with a switch? I believe the problem here is ego. Do we know enough about the matter to ensure that it is in fact contorlable? I know that it is able to produce amazing speeds within the machine itself. So fast that particles are actually time traveling as it were within the collider. What ramifacations does this have if control over the collider and thus, the black matter is lost?
Cheers luv
They have already confirmed all previous found particles. They are ramping up the number of collisions by injecting more protons which puts them into new science now. Looks like we will start seeing new discoveries in the next two years as they move to full power.
Amazing new things will come from this research.. Ping..what was that?
I still say, those guys should sue North Korea, India, China and everyone else who has a nuclear weapon! They might have a case!
The Large Hadron collider will start collisions of Hadrons, the 11/9. That day CERN will shoot for the first time Lead bullets at the speed of light against mother Earth in this superconductive, superfluid cannon. According to the most advanced theoretical research on the subject, they can create strangelets that would sink the Earth into a 15 kilometers rock. Strange liquid is the quark-gluon soup that causes the big-bangs of Novas, Super-Novas and maybe even long ago caused the big-bang of the cosmic Universe. And their'strangelet' CASTOR device will count them. Never Mind CERN says adamantly it won't produce them, and it has denied in all suits and press releases any chance to producing strangelets. It is a fact that it has designed a machine and installed it to detect them.
We have obtained an astounding self-confession, a 'leak' encrypted in the tons of documents CERN produces only for 'physicists' experts:
'Prof. A. Panagiotou and students are investigating phenomena in the very forward region. In particular, the existence and identification of exotic states of matter, such as “Centauro” and “Strangelets”, the later being a bulk of quark matter of about equal number of u, d and s quarks, believed to be produced in ultra-relativistic HI collisions. This search was one of the original motivations for the design of CASTOR.' And then a video transcript from one of his students: My name is Panos Katsas. I work as an experimental physicist for the CASTOR forward calorimeter of CMS and my main area of interest is the study of exotic events in heavy ion collisions, especially the identification of strangelets, which are likely to be produced.' More of this confession and many other leaked internal documents in which CERN affirms that it will produce strangelets but also advices to deal with 'the press, maximizing opportunities and minimizing trheats' can be found at http://www.cerntruth.com/?p=125
regards
luis sancho, lead plaintiff in the case Sancho et Al. Vs DOE & CERN
Hawking radiation will save us by causing immediate evaporation of micro Black Holes.
Cosmic radiation with the same energies as what the hadron can produce has been colliding with particles in our atmosphere for eons and we still exist.
There's not a particle of truth to these wild claims! Doh! ;-)