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Claudia Marcelloni / CERN
Workers walk around the ATLAS detector's calorimeter during the Large Hadron Collider's winter maintenance period. The LHC's proton beams were restarted over the weekend.
After a winter maintenance break, Europe's Large Hadron Collider went back into operation this weekend, beginning a marathon that scientists hope will lead to theory-twisting breakthroughs.
Argonne National Laboratory's Thomas LeCompte, who is physics coordinator for the LHC's ATLAS detector, said the particle accelerator resumed shooting proton beams around its 17-mile-round (27-kilometer-round) underground ring on Saturday night. James Gillies, a spokesman for Europe's CERN nuclear research center, told me that proton-on-proton collisions could resume within a week.
During the next two years, the underground particle accelerator could produce data pointing to the nature of dark matter, or the discovery of a whole new class of unanticipated subatomic curiosities, or the existence of extra dimensions ... or the presence of the Higgs boson, the so-called "God Particle" that could explain why some particles have mass and others don't.
"By the end of next year, we hope very much that we will be able to say something about the Higgs," said Felicitas Pauss, head of international relations at Europe's CERN nuclear research center.
String theory supported
Researchers are already able to say something about potentially new physics, coming out of just a few weeks' worth of lead-ion collisions in November. Those collisions created quark-gluon plasma, an exotic type of matter that existed just an instant after the big bang, said Yves Schutz, a CERN physicist who is part of the team behind the LHC's ALICE detector.
"We have produced in the laboratory the hottest matter ever, the densest matter ever," Schutz said today during a session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in Washington.
Previous experiments conducted at another particle accelerator, the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider in New York, showed that quark-gluon plasma took on the form of a liquid. Some scientists expected the plasma to go to a gaseous state at the higher temperatures achieved by ALICE, but it didn't. Instead, it was a "perfect liquid, which flows without resistance and is completely opaque," Schutz said.
That in itself was a big surprise. But Schutz told me that the results were consistent with what had been predicted by a particular variant of string theory known as AdS/CFT correspondence, which also addresses such mysteries as quantum gravity and extra dimensions. "I'm surprised that they can make a prediction and that it matches what we measured," Schutz said.
String theory is a long-debated conception of the subatomic world that envisions matter as being composed of incredibly tiny strings or membranes that vibrate in an 11-dimensional universe. Skeptics have criticized the concept as being untestable and unfalsifiable, but if findings from the LHC can confirm some hypotheses and falsify others, that could increase string theory's acceptance.
Only the beginning
The collider is scheduled to run at its current energy of 3.5 trillion electron volts (TeV) per beam for 2011 and 2012, with a weeks-long maintenance break next winter that would be similar to the break that has just ended. At the end of 2012, the machine would be shut down for more than a year to get it ready to run at its full power of 7 TeV per beam.
Over the past year, the LHC's beams have been at 3.5 TeV, producing results that have confirmed decades' worth of findings from earlier particle accelerators. But the collisions have not yet yielded enough data to provide evidence for the exotic theories that scientists have suggested, Pauss said. LeCompte explained that the telltale signs of dark matter, microscopic black holes, supersymmetric particles or the Higgs boson are so rare that scientists have to search through huge amounts of data to find them — and then make sure that the evidence is rock-solid.
He compared the task to an oil-prospecting operation. "You might strike oil, but you haven't explored the whole field," LeCompte said.
By the end of 2012, scientists should have enough data to confirm or reject claims about the Higgs boson and the other oddities. If the Higgs is not found, that might force physicists to take a second look at the Standard Model, the theory of subatomic structure that ranks as one of physics' biggest achievements.
"We know the Standard Model is wrong at some level," LeCompte said. "We know that something lies beyond that. The Higgs is the simplest and most elegant way to push it to the next level, but nature may have something else in mind."
A good number of scientists say failing to find the Higgs boson at the LHC would actually be more intriguing than finding it — even though they admit it'd be hard to tell that to the politicians who have funded the $10 billion international project.
"If we don't see it, we will be very excited, because it means that there's something very brand-new," the University of Maryland's Nicholas Hadley, who is a member of the research team for the LHC's Compact Muon Solenoid detector, told journalists at today's news briefing. "But to say we looked and we didn't find anything ... we'll probably volunteer to have other people stand up here in front of you if that day comes."
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Some day the very large will understand the very small and some day the very small will except the very large.
Who built this thing?
It reminds me of an old Fiat 128 I used to have. The joke always was that Fiat stood for : Fix It Again Tony!
Have ya thought of any meaningful names to go with CERN? I'd like to hear some :)
It's cool that they can do these experiments, but have they stopped to think about if they should do them?
Smart people often make seemingly dumb mistakes because they are so focused on solving the problem or finding the answer, that they don't meta-cognitively see the danger of the unknown-unknowns in what they are messing with.
Has anyone considered that poking other dimensions with 7 Trillion Electron Volts might not be appreciated?
Maybe they won't be able to complete the next wintertime maintenance on the Large Haldron Collider.
The InterDimensional Galactic Alliance will vaporize the earth on December 21, 2012 to prevent CERN scientists from using full power and causing a dangerous rift in the time/space continuum.
Bummer.
This will not happen. The Maya Calendar is associated with the Everlasting Theory. The simple formula leads to the numbers 5, 8 (5+8=13), 20 and 260 applied in the Calendar (to these numbers only). On 2-04-2016 the solar system will transit through a sheet of dark matter (there are a few such sheets in our Galaxy). This is the date of big cataclysm.
Good thing that it is not in the us . The Reps would have killed it long ago saying it is too expensive . Science means nothing to them .
They sure are holding out on this thing...just put the pedal to the metal and light this candle!
For those concerned that the US is falling behind in the physics let me say that the US is a partner in the LHC and that the Ads/CFT correspondence was improved upon by an American physicist Leonard Susskind, who by the way forced Hawking to rethink the information problem in his Hawking radiation theory. The US was in the running to build the LHC but the NIMBY's fought hard enough that Europe finally was awarded the site.
For those trying to grasp the Ads/CFT correspondence, try to think of it this way, they are talking about a very small space, smaller than Planck's length. Now think about a Mobius strip, one side and one edge, then place a drop of water on the strip. Where they touch is the conformal boundary. The water droplet would have gravity, the Mobius strip would not. Now expand up to 4 and 5 dimensions.
In my opinion, mass is the more fundamental quantity than energy. This leads to conclusion that the Higgs mechanism and Higgs bosons are not in existence. The Einstein spacetime components (their mass is not equal to zero) carry the massless photons - they are the rotational energies of the binary systems of neutrinos the Einstein spacetime consists of. We should also reformulate the theory of weak and strong interactions. Future experiments should show that there is an asymptote for the running coupling of the strong interactions - its value should be 0.1139.
"This leads to conclusion..."
How so?
The fundamental spacetime is a gas composed of the moving least pieces of SPACE. They are the internally continuous balls the all matter consists of. They have volume and their inertial mass is in proportion to this volume. The least pieces of space carry energies i.e. the mass (i.e. the least pieces of space) is more fundamental than the massless energy. The least pieces of space are three-dimensional whereas the fundamental spacetime is four-dimensional and the time is associated with the motions of the least pieces of space. We can see that to describe nature we do not need the Higgs mechanism transforming the massless energy into mass. The least pieces of space are moving in truly empty and infinite volume. The first transition of the least pieces of space leads to the closed strings and next to the neutrinos. The ground state of the Einstein spacetime consists of the non-rotating binary systems of neutrinos. This is very difficult to detect such non-rotating binary systems. Today it is impossible. Such model needs seven parameters only and leads to the all physical constants and mathematical constants applied in physics. I calculated a few hundred physical quantities and they are consistent with experimental data with very high accuracy.
Scoobie Doo said it best, I believe: "Ruh Roh!"
C'mon, guys, throttle that big boy up. I just gotta know before dec. 21, 2012. You are dragging your feet!
Tongue in cheek, but you know once they get to 7 TeV and answer all the questions, their jobs are over and everyone goes home. Is that why they are taking so long? Mild sarcasim people, dont flood me with idiot comments please.
Not everyone goes home, just the engineers who make these things happen. It's all about the advancement in knowledge and the LHC becomes a usable tool and less of a construction project.
It's too bad Einstein isn't alive to work in this day and age. Imagine where his mind may have traveled?
How do you know that Einstein isn't alive in some other dimension? If anyone knew how to do that, it was Einstein.
seems to me that gravity is an instantaneous force...IE if the sun were to vanish the planets immediately move out of orbit in nearly straight lines?? light takes 9 minutes.. so if we could figure out an electromagnetic field that would selectively block gravity fields except where we wanted to go..we could concieveably use it for propulsion??
ed, interesting thought but don't forget the space time relationship with mass. Mass bends space and time.
It's possible that by travelling through routes of huge gravitational fields that "worm hole " navigation might be possible. Basically it means orbiting black holes to get a push similar to how we use the moon or Jupiter to get a 'push' with space travel. Except that sling shooting off a black hole is way more cool. All that physics is supported by basic relativity Einstein.
Sorry, Ed. No force is instantaneous. Gravity takes just as long as light to traverse a given distance. Otherwise, the pull that galaxies exert on each other when they are billions of light-years apart would probably collapse the universe (or at least its contents).
@ed Johnson:
Although one might presume reasonably that there are many flavors of gravity, including what might be called "quantum gravity" or "multidimensional gravity", the affects of changes in conventional gravity travel approximately at the speed of light and have essentially the same constraints as conventional light . . .
Explained by example, if the sun somehow vanished instantly, the planets would continue their natural orbits for approximately the amount of time required for the light emitted by the sun just before it vanished to reach them, which for our planet would be approximately 9 minutes . . .
Intuitively, everyone knows that the suggested upper limit to the speed of light is one of the great misconceptions of modern physics, but like Newtonian physics it is a convenient misconception . . .
Similarly, common sense suggests that it is quite illogical for electricity and magnetism essentially to be interchangeable but for light and gravity not to be, but this bit of nonsense will be corrected, sooner or later . . .
Explained another way, the most important questions in modern physics are (a) "Where is all the anti-gravity hiding?" and (b) "Why is the new Britney Spears song 'Hold It Against Me" so hot?", really . . .
Really!
The LHC helps us to understand these things that we dont understand. Keep asking those questions and never stop asking :)
But, just like any one else....question where your cash is going..Dont take it for granted that its a good investment.
I am not a star trek idiot but I do believe in star travel. Just not the round trip kind with James Kirk visiting San Francisco any time he wants. :)
Q. Can two quarks (either the same and/or different flavor) occupy the same space?
@Oaktree:
You wrote this:
Intuitively, these are a few of the many correct answers:
A. Yes, but not at exactly the same time . . .
A. Yes, If they combined to create a new particle . . .
A. Yes, if the "space" has no dimensions . . .
A. Yes, but only if the "space" is multidimensional . . .
A. Yes, but only for a very short time, followed by the universe collapsing onto itself . . .
A. No, because every quark is unique . . .
A. No, because every space is unique . . .
A. No, because space is defined by its contents . . .
A. No, because the contents of space are defined by the space, itself . . .
A. Probably not . . .
A. Sure, in a general way like a lot of people living in the same town . . .
A. Not really . . .
A. I don't know . . .
A. Why not! If nothing is real, then everything is possible . . .
A. Yes and No . . .
A. Yes, but only if one of them is called "Bob" . . .
Summarizing, the best and probably most accurate answer to your excellent question is found in the following wikipedia entries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_confinement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_quark
After speed-reading the aforementioned wikipedia entries and studying the diagram of the "collision event" of two Top quarks (see the top-right of the third entry), one might infer that two quarks can occupy the same space at least for the amount of time required for them to explode, provided one abandons all logic and arbitrarily presumes that time is discrete (or "has gaps where time does not exist") rather than continuous, which is a FUN thing to ponder, since it tends to suggest (a) that there is no infinitesimally smallest entity or instant in time and (b) that all modern physics is based on patently incorrect and quite silly presumptions, many of which spring from the novel creation of Calculus by Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th century, which we know makes only a tiny bit less sense than the current chemical periodic table, hence is the reason that in the grand scheme of everything anyone who successfully passes college level courses in Chemistry and Calculus without first failing them at least three times automatically should be discouraged, if not prohibited by law, from majoring in Physics, for sure . . .
For sure! :-o
Here is a thought regarding the question above. Instead of thinking about it as a point object, think of it as a string, then possibly the two quarks, three is better for stability, would become intertwined. From our perspective they would look to occupy the same space.
LOL,
Ok, let me rephraise the question in a more structural way.
Do quarks really exist as fundamental particles, (keep the same state properties when moving from point A to point B, (t1 to t2)), or are they a manifestation of gluons?
Point behind this question is IF the gluons, (and more fundamentally glueballs), are the true quanta of the space-time continum, then is the Higgs field the interactions between any two glueballs?
This is not that much removed from the mechanism that defines the Higgs boson, it is just an attempt to a more structural visualization of the conversion of energy to mass.
@Oaktree:
Common sense strongly suggests that GOD had an extraordinarily ironic sense of humor as a baby, as well as an equally sardonic temper as a toddler, with the overall result that the clues to the answer for the question of the day are found in the telescopes and microscopes of every scientist . . .
Specifically, it is a matter of efficiency and optimization based on the general fact that a good idea is just as good when it is applied on a stellar scale and is it when applied on an atomic scale . . .
In other words, in the grand scheme of everything, all the clues to the design and structure of the atomic universe are found in the design and structure of the stellar universe, which in summary form maps to the most likely answer to the following question being as obvious as it is supremely succinct . . .
A. No!
Nevertheless, I continue to think that there is an elegant solution to the general problem, which is explained at a high level in the most recent revision to The Theory of the Absolute Fundamental Units of the Universe™, which is one of the many ongoing projects being conducted here in the sound isolation studio under the auspices of The Department of Absurd Physics and Modern Dance™ . . .
[NOTE: This PDF file is approximately 106KB and has 5 pages of text. An earlier version complete with diagrams was published in the early-1990s, and I continue to await the long expected letter from the Nobel Prize Committee acknowledging receipt of my telepathic nomination, which at present is the only way I can nominate myself due to abandoning the use of paper nearly four decades ago . . . ]
http://www.surfwhammys.com/The-Theory-of-the-Absolute-Fundamental-Units-of-the-Universe.pdf
Explained another way, does it make any sense to have a different template or cookie cutter for big stuff than for small stuff?
Not really!
It might be a bit mind-boggling, but so what . . .
So what!
If you want to see more stuff, then there are two ways to do it:
(1) Build a bigger telescope . . .
(2) Build a bigger microscope . . .
There is no intrinsic rule that states infinity must be finite, and common sense strongly suggests that no matter how big the telescope or microscope there always will be more detailed stuff, which is the way infinity works by design, which is a curious corollary of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which to be specific makes it abundantly clear that creating a device to observe something ipso facto causes something to be observed, which itself is based on the general rule explained in the words of wisdom and classic adage, "Seek and ye shall find" . . .
Toward the goal of avoiding becoming engrossed in mathematical masturbation, which is one of the most prevalent pitfalls of physics at the dawn of the early-21st century, I am a bit amazed that nobody has taken the time to map planetary systems to molecules, which should not be such a difficult endeavor, especially now that data from the Kepler Schmidt-type telescope and its photometer is becoming available . . .
[NOTE: It is entirely possible that my general amazement is more the consequence of lack of information in this respect, since the requisite mappings might be ongoing but have not as yet been reported to the public or beamed to me by the aliens from outer space . . . ]
If nothing else, I think this mapping of planetary systems to molecules has great potential for a fascinating project for an undergraduate thesis or whatever . . .
Whatever!
For example, if a planetary system has one sun and nine planets, perhaps it maps to a molecule of flourine?
Or perhaps not . . .
Does it make any sense for protons and neutrons to have a bunch of tiny parts but for electrons not to have a bunch of tiny parts?
Probably not!
Is the Pauli Exclusion Principle anything more than a disturbing misdirection on par with the patently goofy ideas (a) that the Earth is flat or (b) that the universe revolves around the Earth?
I have no idea, but the periodic table of elements is quite illogical, albeit useful in some respects!
And a bit of quick Google searching reveals that there is a bit of evidence that electrons have more stuff than conventional logic suggests, which at the dawn of the early-21st century apparently led to the definition of "quasiparticles" such as "electron holes", "phonons", and one might suppose "spinons" and their antiparticles "holons" . . .
Two of the biggest clues are (a) that the human ear can detect the change in standard atmospheric pressure caused by the vibration or motion of a single electron and (b) that the human eye can detect a single photon, which is a bit mind-boggling . . .
[NOTE: I base the statement regarding hearing a single electron on the arithmetical presumption that an electron is approximately in the range of one-tenth of an atomic diameter . . . ]
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/earsens.html#c1
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/rodcone.html#c4
Mind-boggling!
And based on research done just a few years ago, it appears that the human eye can detect quantum entanglement, really . . .
[NOTE: The PDF for the research on the human eye as a qubit detector can be downloaded from this Cornell University Library link . . . ]
http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.0472
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qubit
Really!
And toward the goal of having a lot of FUN, I think that redesigning,and revitalizing the currently abandoned Superconducting Super Collider project is one of many excellent ways to engage in productive Keynesian economic stimulation, which is sorely needed in our great nation at the dawn of the early-21st century, for sure . . .
For sure!
The various technologies probably are a bit antiquated, but they can be updated and moved forward, which if nothing else creates a lot of productive jobs and most likely leads either (a) to exciting new discoveries or (b) to propelling the Waxahachie metroplex into near-Earth orbit if at least one my hypotheses regarding light and gravity is correct and the required quantity of fiber optic cabling is installed and then energized at the full 40 TeV level (or greater based on technological advances since its original design) on a Tuesday during a lunar eclipse while playing the Surf Whammys new song, "Feel Me", which is fabulous . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider
[NOTE: This is the basic rhythm section for "Feel Me" (The Surf Whammys), which is done in Notion 3 (Notion Music) using various VSTi instruments from SampleTank 2.5 (IK Multimedia). I am working on the vocals and lead guitar, so there will be more stuff sooner or later, as well as a lot more "sparkles", which are the apparently random bits of sound that appear throughout the Spherical Sonic Landscape™ at primarily asynchronous pseudo-random times . . . ]
http://surfwhammys.com/Feel-Me-1-31-2011-Extended.mp3
Fabulous! :)
Ok ok I withdraw the question, lol!
@Balderino, interesting but let me point out a few flaws in your logic. Heisenberg Uncertainity Principle apllies only to the quantum world, you can't extrapolate to larger models. For the human ear distinguishing the vibration of an electron, the link you provided says nothing about hearing the vibration of an electron. It specifically says the frequency has to be in the audible range. And then you say you base your comments on the metric that an electron is one-tenth the size of an atom. An electron is 2.81 X 10^-15 meters and is a constant size, whereas an atom has different sizes depending on the element. A hydrogen atom, the smallest atom, is 10^-10 meters wide, which makes an electron 10^-5 smaller, not 10^-1 or one tenth.
This comment makes no sense at all : The various technologies probably are a bit antiquated, but they can be updated and moved forward, which if nothing else creates a lot of productive jobs and most likely leads either (a) to exciting new discoveries or (b) to propelling the Waxahachie metroplex into near-Earth orbit if at least one my hypotheses regarding light and gravity is correct and the required quantity of fiber optic cabling is installed and then energized at the full 40 TeV level (or greater based on technological advances since its original design)
40 TeV? A 100 watt light bulb uses 624,000,000 TeV to stay on for 1 second and you hypothesized to put Waxahachie, TX into near-Earth orbit with 40 Tev of energy. How would you do that? You could solve the world's energy crisis *sarcasm*.
Oh........Don't you know these scientists will be happy if they don't find the Higgs. Because then, they'll need a Trillion dollar collider. lol.......And they'll need 20 years to assemble it. This project reminds me of the Nasa Sat. missions that get "extended" for (snicker - snicker) 5 TO 10 years.
It's just a jobs program for research scientists, they never have to produce.........Anything.
Energy is fascinating. Fields are simplistic models depicting the effects energy has on our perceptions. An 11 dimension reality transcends the perceptional capacities of our four dimensional mind. However, why should energy be bound by our perceptions? String theory is poised to become the leading theory of everything. Coupled with the pending and certain "Singularity", not the one that is contextual but the one describing man versus computers, we are on the threshold of humanity's greatest achievement. We are barely into the second millenium after the "Dark Ages" yet we stand at the window of incredible potential for all living things. Simply exhilarating ! Imagine what we could have accomplished with the lives and trillions of dollars spent on these absurd wars we are prosecuting? We certainly haven't exacted our revenge nor brought justice to those killed by terrorists during the 911 attacks. However, a paltry few billions spent on an enormous machine may well change man's destiny in time / space. WOW !!!!
Dearest Allan,
Honey, have you noticed every time they fire that bees notch up we get big earthquakes. Seriously, I think they are sucking out some energy maybe pulling us out of our dimension with that thing. Last time Haiti and southern hemisphere this time Fiji and New Zealand knocked off a glacier. When will you science idiots realize messing with magnetic fields causes= BIG EARTHQUAKES turn it off quick please. Gosh why do I always have to be the dollmaker that has common sense on this channel Allan?
This is not funny I really thing its causing earthquakes, they got one in Arkansas sure it was small but if those idiots set off my fault line on the San Madrid that’s it I’ll have to figure out how to shut the machine off myself last time it took praying and a bread crumb shut the - -itch down. Shut it off you clones. By the way, I skipped reading all the comments and most of the article you wrote.
Allan would you please wake them up there are some toys little boys and girls should not be playing with. I thought at least the U.S. got that drift the last time- and that was why they shut ours down! www.adoll4ver.com This has been an emergency message from the toy maker!
Just prior to last shutdown we had the worldwide massive bird/fish/other animal deaths. We have also had earthquakes/volcanos that have some timing equal to that of the collider and its function. As a matter of fact, it started up just this weekend and look at the earthquake in New Zealand. It appears that most of the happenings of the earth are in relative physical alignment with the collider. Could this be a factor?
But of course, it is called the "butterfly effect" or choas theory. C'mon everyone knows that! lol
The real question that I hope the LHC program will answer is can two quarks (either the same and/or different flavor) occupy the same space?
If yes, will certainly help us converge to the unified theory quicker.
Hey, guys these people are just trying to model the sub atomic universe and the universe with mathematical formulas. If you do not understand it. Do not worry, others do.
Hopefully they will generate some good from it. It would be good if we can find another force of the universe to control and use for mans benefit. God knows we have controlled other forces and weapons for man's demise. We have come a long way since man and woman bitten the apple of knowledge. Hopefully God will help us with these new discoveries and hopefully we can all benefit from them.
Geek fight! Geek fight!
I love it when the great big giant brains on this blog can't agree and get all nasty and stuff with each other.
"Oh yeah, well my quarks can beat your higs-boson any day."
For those of us with tiny monkey brains who struggle to remember who's who on Star Gate Universe it's nice to see all these great big giant brainiacs throwing pocket protectors at each other. Now there is something I can understand.
There must be quantum fluctuations in your TCP settings that are causing packet drops, so there are errors in your transmission.
Kidding, that was a good one.
does....not.....compute..glitch....does....not....compute glitch!
Yeah, I hate it when those fluctuations cause my packets to drop. Thank goodness for DEPENDS.
Thanks Tony, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
What most, if not all, fail to understand is just that. Do or do not.....there is no try.