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Claudia Marcelloni / CERN
A worker stands beneath the ATLAS detector's calorimeter during this month's maintenance break at the Large Hadron Collider.
The world's most powerful particle collider will be kept running through 2012 rather than taking next year off for an overhaul, Europe's CERN particle physics lab announced today. The change in plans means scientists at the Large Hadron Collider will have more time to track down the Higgs boson and other mysteries of the universe before the extended break — and it also means the machine should be shut down just in time for the Maya apocalypse.
Not that there's anything to the doomsday date. There's no reason why the world should end on Dec. 21, 2012, with or without the LHC. Some folks think dramatic, world-shattering changes will occur on that day because it marks the end of the Maya "long-count" calendar, but that myth has no basis in historical or cosmological reality. (And experts say the date may have been miscalculated, anyway.) Some folks also think the LHC could bring on doomsday by creating catastrophe-causing black holes or strangelets — but there's no evidence for that, either.
The real significance of the LHC's operation in 2012 is that scientists are so pleased with the way the machine has been running that they want to keep up the scientific momentum.
"With the LHC running so well in 2010, and further improvements in performance expected, there's a real chance that exciting new physics may be within our sights by the end of the year," Sergio Bertolucci, CERN's research director, said in today's news release. "For example, if nature is kind to us and the lightest supersymmetric particle, or the Higgs boson, is within reach of the LHC's current energy, the data we expect to collect by the end of 2012 will put them within our grasp."
Right now, the LHC is closed for maintenance, but it's due to start up again in February. The new schedule, approved by the CERN's managers over the past few days, calls for operations to resume at the tried-and-true energy of 3.5 trillion electron volts per beam. CERN expects to increase the LHC's data collection rate by at least a factor of three over the next year, potentially allowing scientists to see the first hints of new phenomena by the end of the year. But one year would not provide enough time to "turn those hints into a discovery," CERN said.
So instead of shutting the LHC down for a yearlong series of upgrades, as previously planned, CERN said it would take a "short technical stop" at the end of 2011, then go back into operation for 2012. The big upgrades would be done during 2013, and in 2014 the LHC would be back in business at its full design energy of 7 TeV per beam.
One of the LHC project's primary goals is to detect the Higgs boson, which is the only particle predicted by current theory that has yet to be found. The Higgs particle, along with its associated field, is thought to play a role in endowing some particles with mass while leaving others (such as photons) to go massless. Research at the LHC could shed new light on other fundamental questions as well: Are there whole classes of supersymmetric particles (or "sparticles") that have gone undetected to date? Might some of those sparticles account for dark matter, which can't be seen but can be detected by its gravitational influence? Is it possible that we live in a world of 10 or 11 dimensions? Why does it look as if matter won out over antimatter when the universe came into being? What's the nature of the primordial soup that existed just an instant after the big bang?
For more about the LHC and its role in solving the mysteries of the universe, delve into our special section about "The Big Bang Machine." And for more from the 2012 watch, check out these stories:
- Stressed by storms and supernovas?
- Solar cycle sparks doomsday buzz
- Alien invaders vs. the truth squad
- The end is not near
If you're looking for an additional antidote to 2012 hysteria, check out 2012hoax.org. Join the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the blog's Facebook page or following b0yle on Twitter. You'll even find a reference to 2012 hype in a chapter of my book, "The Case for Pluto."
Leave a Comment:
I know what they are doing, they are making sure they don't get blamed when the world ends next year. Very devious of CERN, very very devious indeed
Eric, Please remove your tongue from your cheek
hmmm... avoiding blame for ending the world is kind of pointless. afterall... who will be around to wag their finger at the guilty party? :p
Besides there are many people who have saved the world from destruction, but there can only be one who finally succeed in destroying the world. If I was that one, why would I not want to take credit for it? Just imagine the kind of street cred and respect I would get. :P
Well now, doesn't this leave an opening for political mud slinging. {[:-)~
Obama did it...no it was G W Bush's fault...no it was what Clinton did... no old man Bush cause it...no Reagan started it with his 666 address....no it was that crazy Carter sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. lmao
Well when we're all standing before the Mayan gods asking not to be sacrificed to the bloody pit of agony (I wonder if anybody can tell I don't know anything about Mayan mythology?) I, for one, want to be able to point my finger at the perpetrators and scream "Destroy them FIRST!!!"
But noooo, they have to go make it look like they have nothing to do with it.
But we know, yes we do, that they're going to sneak into their lab and push the END UNIVERSE button at exactly the right time. They just want to pretend it's not their fault.
God created Man to put this earth on check that is why he made us in his IMAGE.
Troll Alert!! WHOOP! WHOOP! Troll Alert!!
WTF??? "put this earth in check"??? WTH does that mean anyway???
""Put this earth on check""???? means { to examine something in order to established its state or condition} to get prepared for negative or positve events in view of thermodynamics conditions our planet is being subjected to in the COSMOS to suistained LIFE.
"Some folks also think the LHC could bring on doomsday by creating catastrophe-causing black holes or strangelets — but there's no evidence for that, either."
It should be pointed out that by the time there was evidence, we wouldn't be around to talk about it.
i think the evidence the author was talking about would be small, unassuming, common, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, bland, nugatory, standard black holes and strangelets.
There are untold thousands of particles zipping through the earth every day, producing reactions much more powerful than those of the LHC. The problem is we need these interactions to happen inside a sensor where we can see what's going on.
The LHC isn't doing anything that doesn't happen in nature. Worrying it's going to make a black hole is like worrying that the wave machine at a waterpark will screw up the tides and make the moon crash.
This thing seems to spend more time in maintenance than doing what's it's suppose to be doing.
it's NOT a car! it's juuuuuuuust a bit more intricate.
Pft, maintaing a particle accelerator 17 miles in diameter is nothing. I do it all the time.
If the world ending gets rid of those Westboro Baptist nutjobs, I'm all for it.
BIG BANG!
Ahhhhh, what a beautiful morning. I am sipping my coffee, reading the web and learning about the different ways our planet could die - all within the next two years. Oh well, I'll just grab my ankles and move on to the sports page ...
If your right with your creator, you have nothing to fear. "Let go and Let God"
Me and the FSM are good. He told me so.
FSM be praised! Thy sauce and thy meatballs, they comfort me.
Ramen!
If your right with your creator, you have nothing to fear. "Let Go and Let God"
Creatrix
Just you wait. 12/21/2012, LHC will turn itself back on and go into overload, thus destroying us all. Unless someone's around to immediately reverse the polarity and save us all.
:D :D
They'd better be careful not to let any creepy blonde albino dudes into the building, remember what happened to the big wormhole machine in "Contact"!
We still have a year or so to construct a computer virus that would prevent their bills from being paid in November 2012. Then the utility company can shut off their power, and we'll all be safe!
@Miley - LOL, "Why build one when you can have two for twice the cost?"
Good Grief, You guys have been watching too many science FICTION movies and/or reading the bible too literally.
LHC Rocks!!!! and I'm one who's looking forward to the discoveries it has waiting for us!!
How do we know with any certainty that the LHC is not already causing unbalance in the weather cycle, etc. We already know that things tie intimately together even if we have not specifically identified how they are tied together. I love being a Baptist nutjob. At least I know who is in charge of all things!
Who? John Boehner?
Thats Right I am. I told you I would return. Wacko
Dude I would be willing to bet that when your savior comes youll want to see some ID.
Santa?
You got that right 12 stepper
I say crank it up. "Scotty we need more power" - James T Kirk.
http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/
If everyone just visited that website once in a while then nobody would have to EVER talk about how they think the LHC will cause any harm. Problem solved.
I just visited http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/ and it was gratifyingly reassuring to be informed that the world is still around for another day!
"Might some of those sparticles account for dark matter, which can't be seen but can be detected by its gravitational influence?"
Shouldn't that say "...but is INFERED by gravitational measurements."?
Not saying one way or another if dark matter exists, but consider we think it exists because our measurements of the gravity in the universe dont match with what we can see out there. It leaves two possibilities, 1) there is something out there that has gravity that we can't see, or 2) our theories and understanding on gravity on a cosmic scale are incorrect.
Considering that Newton's Laws worked so perfect and were so widely accepted, only to be blown away by Einstein, I am wary of people so convinced of dark matter when our current theories could be blown away just like Newtoian physics were. I am not pro or con on the dark matter debate, just find it odd how accepted the THEORY has become.
It may be possible that we can never fully understand the mechanics on a sub atomic and cosmic scale. Consider our brain and the logic we used evolved over millions of years, and did so for us to be able to function on a specific level. During the evolutionary process we never needed to be able to understand things at a sub atomic level, or on a cosmic level. The logic and mechanics that rule on these scales might simply be something our brain currently isnt wired to fully comprehend, and thus all of our efforts to do so result in us trying to equate and relate them to a plane between mirco and marco that we live our lives on?
Einstein didn't "blow away" Newtonian physics in any way shape or form. They still very much apply to non relativistic velocities. We use Newtonian physics on a daily basis for just about everything.
Right there with ya Greg! Why should it be necessary to postulate the existence of some completely new type of mysterious unknown stuff, different from anything we are presently capable of detecting, just to explain the motions of far off galaxies, when we don't even understand completely how gravity works?
Have we forgotten Occam's razor? Which is the more likely scenario...
1) There really is some kind of stuff out there that we can't detect by any means currently known and yet not only is there a little bit of it, but there is somehow 20 times as much of this new stuff as there is of 'regular stuff' (i.e. baryonic matter)?
Or 2) Is it perhaps more likely that our theoretical assumptions and calibration of measurements based on redshift and other theoretical "yardsticks" are possibly off and that when we do finally develop a cohesive theory of gravity it will make all this nonsense about dark matter and dark energy seem as ridiculous as the epicycles and equants which were employed by Ptolemy's astronomers as fudge factors in the earth centric model of planetary orbits?
As Copernicus and Kepler figured out, The Principle of Parsimony applies. The simpler answer is usually correct.
Hey Blizzer, how about you standing there ready to turn off the machine, and when nothing happens, you'll look like a moron, just like the rest of the ppl that believe you
People that believe the world will end in 2012 need to get a reality check. There's so much eveidence to prove the world will NOT end in 2012, yet there is absolutely NO eveidence to prove that it will end. If people have nothing better to do with their time than plan their lives around this event then you have way to much time on your hands. Get back to reality people!
Huh? When am I? I have been underground since Y2K when the world ended. What are all of you people doing here?
Double post
This is good news.
This means that the world will not end in 2012 after all. Now CREN will be up and running so that Jeff Goldblum can reprogram it, in the nick of time, to generate a quantum black hole and save the world from certain doom.
The Mayans did not count on that! I'll bet they feel silly now!
World changing events have now started Read the head lines
name one!
The world changes all the time. For example: I threw a snowball at my dog on our nightly walk. I moved some frozen precipitation around and changed the layout of the environment a little bit. World has been changed ever so slightly.
What, did you think we live in a static environment?