E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
CERN
This track is an example of simulated data modeled for the ATLAS detector on the Large Hadron Collider. These tracks would be produced if a miniature black hole was created in a proton-proton collision.
Physicists using Europe's Large Hadron Collider say they haven't seen any microscopic black holes yet — and perhaps they never will. The most they can say right now is that if they exist, the exotic objects would have to have a mass of more than 3.5 trillion electron volts.
Some flavors of string theory have suggested that micro-black holes could be created at the LHC if the universe has "rolled-up" dimensions in addition to the three space dimensions plus time with which we're familiar. In such a universe, the force of gravity might become dramatically stronger at very small distances, and colliding particles occasionally could create an energy density large enough to produce a black hole for just an instant of time.
Two years ago, CERN theoretical physicist Michelangelo Mangano told me that the black-hole scenario was a long shot.
"In order for the LHC to produce some of these black holes, we really have to go beyond the normal theory of gravity," he said at the time. "We have to assume that there are extra dimensions. By the way, there are many theories that have extra dimensions. Not all of them would give rise to black holes at the LHC. It's only highly fine-tuned ones that make this possible."
So it's not correct to say that the lack of black holes suggests string theory is a failure. In fact, string theory covers so many possibilities that another theoretical physicist, Arizona State University's Lawrence Krauss, jokes that it's a "theory of anything" rather than a theory of everything. But the latest findings do eliminate some of the theoretical models, which is a useful exercise.
The current state of things is described in a draft paper submitted to Physics Letters this week by the team analyzing data from the LHC's Compact Muon Solenoid detector, or CMS. It's also summarized in a statement from CERN. The CMS collaboration is due to take much more data next year, and Nature's Geoff Brumfiel quotes CMS spokesperson Guido Tonelli as saying the LHC should be able to exclude the creation of black holes almost entirely by the end of the next run.
For years, the LHC's critics have worried that microscopic black holes would somehow spin out of control, despite physicists' reassurances that such a doomsday scenario runs counter to theory as well as observations. The latest findings demonstrate that it's harder to create a black hole than some theoretical physicists may have thought. But the bottom line remains the same: DON'T PANIC.
More about the LHC and black holes:
- Nightmares and dreams at the LHC
- CERN may extend big-bang research
- Black holes for beginners
- Special report: The Big Bang Machine
- Ars Technica: LHC spots no black holes
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
Leave a Comment:
No black holes in our universe. But in those other 10**65 universes, people weren't so lucky :-).
Astronomers found many black holes in the universe but no sign of them decaying via Hawking radiation. Looking for signs of such decay, the CMS study also reported none at the LHC. A plausible interpretation is than any black holes produced were stable, as critics warned (see LHCfacts).
But after the CMS statement linked in the article is a PDF of the Scientific Summary, which reports "a microscopic black hole candidate event...that passes all the selections" of criteria. An accompanying figure is captioned: "An event display for a...microscopic black hole candidate observed by the CMS." Strangely, this information and figure were omitted from the CMS paper.
Good to know
http://www.justsayingit.com
Just Saying
When it comes to trying to find a particle which explains mass, I personally wonder whether mass is simply a characteristic of gravity, with the field of gravity being generated from the interaction of quantum bound energy and quantum bound space which resides within matter. - RC
mass is simply a characteristic of too much pizza and beer.
and FYI there IS NO such thing as too much pizza and beer!
Just because they are not able to detect black holes doesn't mean that they are not being generated. Keep in mind that the basis for detecting these theoretical mini black holes was always dependent on the extremely short lifespan of these black holes. If they don't decay within a timespan which in turn puts them within range of the detectors, then they are simply not going to be detected. - RC
gotta wonder if eaths own gravity field was accounted for in thier calculations...I am extremely surprised they did not find a hint of a black hole, on the other hand maybe they just arent looking close enough, I can only suppose they will also take a while to start finding the shadows of the higgs particles others think they may have seen at other colliders
Are we dead yet?
Are we dead yet?
Are we dead yet?
Not to mention they haven't crossed the low end estimates of the energies required to cross the Plank Limit yet.
That won't happen until they shut down and modify the rings in late 2011 so they can ramp it up to the full 7 million electron volt output in 2012.
Also, as an interesting side note; The webbot project predicted a massive drop in world/social enegies that began on November 8th, and whichwould continue for months. At exactly the time the webbot predicted for the beginning of the falloff, they began running millions of packets of lead nuclei instead of individual protons inside the LHC rings. just something to think about.
Oops, I meant 7 trillion electron volts. Typing too fast again. :P
It will be quite interesting if they happen to shut down LHC for upgrades at exactly the time the webbot predicts the dropoff to stop.
I am sure that Dr. Gordon Freeman is on hand and will handle any serious problems! ;-)
They have not seen any black hole, and never will, for the simple reason that there are no black holes.
http://vixra.org/abs/0912.0031
Just think, our country could have been in the forefront of particle research. Will we lose the edge in space exporation as well? These basic areas of research can and will create new products and jobs, but will it be in this country or another, if we shortchang research?
2012! Did somebody mention 2012?
Well that explains everything, sure, now I understand, yeah! That's the ticket.
14 Tev Game over monkeys. 666