Large Hadron Collider Back Online
vc69
Posts: 2,500
It seem the Higgs boson particle is finally cooperating with scientists. They haven't seen it (or the absence of it) but they are certainly back online and searching.
I hadn't seen any major news coverage of this. It's a big deal to particle physicists.
Quote from article:
"Of course, all this is not for show. Scientists hope to be able to probe conditions similar to those that existed shortly after the big bang, the birth of our Universe. By slamming ultra-high energy particles into one another, they hope to replicate the quark-gluon soup that existed at that time. One of the major goals is a confirmed sighting of the Higgs boson, the last undiscovered particle predicted by the Standard Model physics. It is expected to help us understand why some elementary particles, such as the W and Z bosons, have mass, and why some do not, like the photon or the gluon."
Link to article at ars technica
I hadn't seen any major news coverage of this. It's a big deal to particle physicists.
Quote from article:
"Of course, all this is not for show. Scientists hope to be able to probe conditions similar to those that existed shortly after the big bang, the birth of our Universe. By slamming ultra-high energy particles into one another, they hope to replicate the quark-gluon soup that existed at that time. One of the major goals is a confirmed sighting of the Higgs boson, the last undiscovered particle predicted by the Standard Model physics. It is expected to help us understand why some elementary particles, such as the W and Z bosons, have mass, and why some do not, like the photon or the gluon."
Link to article at ars technica
-Kevin
HT: Philips 52PFL7432D 52" LCD 1080p / Onkyo TX-SR 606 / Oppo BDP-83 SE / Comcast cable. (all HDMI)B&W 801 - Front, Polk CS350 LS - Center, Polk LS90 - Rear
2 Channel:
Oppo BDP-83 SE
Squeezebox Touch
Muscial Fidelity M1 DAC
VTL 2.5
McIntosh 2205 (refurbed)
B&W 801's
Transparent IC's
HT: Philips 52PFL7432D 52" LCD 1080p / Onkyo TX-SR 606 / Oppo BDP-83 SE / Comcast cable. (all HDMI)B&W 801 - Front, Polk CS350 LS - Center, Polk LS90 - Rear
2 Channel:
Oppo BDP-83 SE
Squeezebox Touch
Muscial Fidelity M1 DAC
VTL 2.5
McIntosh 2205 (refurbed)
B&W 801's
Transparent IC's
Post edited by vc69 on
Comments
-
Yes. It is good news.
I read about it on CNN, or someplace online. They had a funny comment about two fringe theories regarding it. First, it is going to create black hole that swallows the 'universe'. Not the Earth, but the entire universe. How that got past an editor is beyond me.
The second is that it is being sabatoged from the future. I guess to prevent the universe swallowing black hole from being created.
Anyway, it is a shame the US canceled our accelerator project in Texas, but at least the work is being done someplace. Of course, like most engineering work these days, it is being done overseas. Let's hear it for the current U.S. "Culture of Stupidity". Let the MBAs reign.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
Yeah, the black hole theory is ridiculous, but I love the one about Higgs particle sabotaging the project from another dimension.:D:p-Kevin
HT: Philips 52PFL7432D 52" LCD 1080p / Onkyo TX-SR 606 / Oppo BDP-83 SE / Comcast cable. (all HDMI)B&W 801 - Front, Polk CS350 LS - Center, Polk LS90 - Rear
2 Channel:
Oppo BDP-83 SE
Squeezebox Touch
Muscial Fidelity M1 DAC
VTL 2.5
McIntosh 2205 (refurbed)
B&W 801's
Transparent IC's -
Fixed.The second is that it is being sabotaged by the Mayans. I guess to prevent the universe swallowing black hole from being created.
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche -
-
A thread like this just wouldn't be complete without a Doc Brown reference, nice!
You don't hear much about it, but this is a big deal in the world of physics. How things get their mass has always been a mystery, and this is theorized to be the answer to that question. -
-Kevin
HT: Philips 52PFL7432D 52" LCD 1080p / Onkyo TX-SR 606 / Oppo BDP-83 SE / Comcast cable. (all HDMI)B&W 801 - Front, Polk CS350 LS - Center, Polk LS90 - Rear
2 Channel:
Oppo BDP-83 SE
Squeezebox Touch
Muscial Fidelity M1 DAC
VTL 2.5
McIntosh 2205 (refurbed)
B&W 801's
Transparent IC's -
Hadrons are nuclei! So protons, neutrons and a few others you don't normally hear about.
It is too bad the american SSC(or was it SCC?) was cut because of funding, but let's realise that CERN(the LHC) is a multinational cooperation.
While we're spitting details, the LHC won't be up to full power for a while. I don't have time to look up the first injection either. As they turn up the juice, the potential for disaster comes back.
Lastly, if the LHC can create a destructive black hole, cosmic rays would have done a much better job of it and swallowed the earth a LONG time ago. I'm not saying it can't create primordial black holes, just that if it can, they are harmless. Either they evaporate, as per Hawking, or are so small they're not able to consume matter fast enough to grow properly.
Viva the LHC!
Higgs: Good luck buddy, I hope you get to uncork that champagne. -
I'm not gonna lie...I seriously thought you said "what a haRDon"...
So I clicked >.<"Dr Dunn admitted that his research could also be interpreted as evidence that women are shallower than men. He said: "Let's face it - there's evidence to support it."
My System:Best Buy is for people who don't know any better. Magnolia is for people who don't know any better and have more money to spend.
TV: SAMSUNG UN55B7000 55" 1080p LED HDTV
HTPC: Chromecast w/ Plex Media Server. Media streamed from Media Server. -
ryanjoachim wrote: »I'm not gonna lie...I seriously thought you said "what a haRDon"...
So I clicked >.<
You win the thread! -
The NYT had an article about the above-mentioned idea that the horror of this collider is so profound that physics (or Nature, if you prefer) itself bends its own rules (vis a vis time and causality) and sabotages the collider proactively :-)
Yes Big Physics is a big deal.
And yes it was (would've been) the superconducting super collider (SSC) in the US.
What we really need is field coil (electromagnet) woofers using superconducting electromagnets :-) -
Just to add some itsy bitsy details, the CERN was originally started as the Conseil Europ... It is too bad the american SSC(or was it SCC?) was cut because of funding, but let's realise that CERN(the LHC) is a multinational cooperation. ...Alea jacta est! -
Maybe they'll have it functional in time for the galactic alignment that is supposedly going to take place in 2012
Beam me up Scotty! Media Room 7.1
Sharp lc37d64u | Sanus vmsab-03 | Sonax ZX8680 | Yamaha htr-6290b | Emotiva xpa1 x 2 & xpa5 | RTiA 9 & 7 | CSiA 6 | FXiA 6 | Sanus NF30B-03 | Velodyne dls-3750r | Dual 505-3 m97xe | Monster avs2000/hts5100
HTPC
Intel e5300 | Asus p5q DLX | LG ch08 BD | OCZ 4g reaper2 | WD 1TB | Sapphire 4890 VaporX 1g | Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3 | OCZ modXtreme 700w | Antec Fusion remote MAX
A fool and his money are easily parted
I don't drink Koolaid
Need some cable's? Just ask
-
sTiLlLeArNiNg wrote: »Maybe they'll have it functional in time for the galactic alignment that is supposedly going to take place in 2012
Beam me up Scotty!
The only galactic alignment I can think of already passed in the last few years. Something like 1998.
Precession is a b$%^#, ain't it?
I got a chance to catch up on the LHC a bit and read they're holding particle beams(small packets for now) for a few hours at a time. At full power, there will be many more 'beams' and held at higher energies for longer.
A baby step is still a step forward, even if we're talking about a very expensive toy. -
I just finally watched "Angels and Demons" last night and I want some of that Anti Matter stuff... Did you catch the light show from that small amount? ;-)***WAREMTAE***
-
H-bomb: nice name.
If you want to get up close and personal with anti-matter, get a PET scan!
Otherwise, build a particle accelerator and a magnetic 'bottle' and find a good source of free electricity. You'll need a killer good vacuum pump too. Believe it or not, a particle accelerator isn't that hard to build. It's the vacuum part that isn't much fun. -
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
-
I agree it is too bad we gave up our own work in Texas...a much more powerful super-collider than CERN. Though CERN will lead to, hopefully, many new discoveries, 'ours' would have led to even more. Pure reseach does not produce instant profit....but one never knows what wonders it may unleash. People who see the world in cycles of yearly quarters are not fit to nix the work of those who see the world in Billions of years, and 1/10nth power of seconds?
cnhCurrently orbiting Bowie's Blackstar.!
Polk Lsi-7s, Def Tech 8" sub, HK 3490, HK HD 990 (CDP/DAC), AKG Q701s
[sig. changed on a monthly basis as I rotate in and out of my stash] -
H-bomb: nice name.
If you want to get up close and personal with anti-matter, get a PET scan!
Otherwise, build a particle accelerator and a magnetic 'bottle' and find a good source of free electricity. You'll need a killer good vacuum pump too. Believe it or not, a particle accelerator isn't that hard to build. It's the vacuum part that isn't much fun.
Indeedy; PET stands for "positron-emitter tomography". They use (IIRC) 19F-labeled glucose. Fluorine emits positrons (anti-electrons), which interact with regular old electrons; they annihilate each other and produce two gamma rays 180 degrees apart. I assume that PET imagers actually see the gammas (but I guess I dont' know fo' sho'). 19F is quite short-lived; AFAIK they still have to synthesize the tracers on-site. -
I've been following this...neat stuff -
mhardy6647 wrote: »Indeedy; PET stands for "positron-emitter tomography". They use (IIRC) 19F-labeled glucose. Fluorine emits positrons (anti-electrons), which interact with regular old electrons; they annihilate each other and produce two gamma rays 180 degrees apart. I assume that PET imagers actually see the gammas (but I guess I dont' know fo' sho'). 19F is quite short-lived; AFAIK they still have to synthesize the tracers on-site.
Close enough!
1) It's named positron emission tomography. Bonus points if you can spell out laser without looking it up....
2) There are different dyes you can use, all radioactive sugars.
3) there would be three gamma rays or more. I'm not gonna work out conservation of momentum to prove it, but that's my gut feeling
4) made in reactors and quickly shipped to hospitals. At least here in Canada that's how we roll.
5) the gamma rays are detected with excellent time precision to triangulate the annihilation event.
6) I would NOT feel comfortable taking the test knowing the physics behind it. Give me 100 MRIs before you give me a PET scan. Of course, if I get cancer I migh change my mind.
7) Go LHC go! Remember that it'll take time to confirm the Higgs boson, if it even exists. It's supposed to be created by a rare mechanism(photon annihilation with gamma rays) so it'll be a statistical discovery instead of an instant gratification discovery.
Carry on... -
The timing aspect (point 5) is actually really interesting. There are (last time I looked) two gamma rays, not three. Heck, even wikipedia thinks so! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron%E2%80%93positron_annihilation (EDIT: oops, "in the most common case", there're two; my bad)
As a consequence, one can use detection of one gamma ray as the timing base to measure... something else related to the other one; at least that is how the early plasma-desorption mass spectrometers worked (using Californium-252 to induce desorption and ionization) to accurately measure 'time of flight' in the drift tube.
Heck, my lab (and coworkers) published the first report of "soft ionization" mass spectrometry analysis of glycopeptide heterogeneity using a PD mass spectrometer back in 1988 (Townsend et al., (1988) Analytical Biochemistry 171, 180-191). Later, of course, folks used laser desorption-TOF MS instead... but that's off-topic, isn't it?
Yes, 19F-glucose is a 'radioactive sugar'. I don't know what-all else is used nowadays for PET scanning. -
Here's some layman-type info on what is happening in Geneva.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36097721/ns/technology_and_science-science/-Kevin
HT: Philips 52PFL7432D 52" LCD 1080p / Onkyo TX-SR 606 / Oppo BDP-83 SE / Comcast cable. (all HDMI)B&W 801 - Front, Polk CS350 LS - Center, Polk LS90 - Rear
2 Channel:
Oppo BDP-83 SE
Squeezebox Touch
Muscial Fidelity M1 DAC
VTL 2.5
McIntosh 2205 (refurbed)
B&W 801's
Transparent IC's
