Note from the editor:

In next month’s BLEEPING Herald, we will be interviewing David Kaplan. David is one of a handful of lead theoretical particle physicists working with CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) and the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiments. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. His primary research interests are in theoretical particle physics with particular focus on electroweak superconductivity and potentially related physics such as supersymmetry, new fundamental forces, extra dimensions and their signals at collider experiments. He’s also a really nice and funny guy who has a knack for explaining intimidating subjects for any of us non-scientists.

The LHC project at CERN has brought together the top physicists of this generation for what could be the greatest scientific revolution of the century. Either that or the end of physics all together.

Talking with David and learning about the CERN projects shows just how much science can be a painful, exciting and very human enterprise. David is also taking the project one step further by creating a documentary on the experiment. This film ranges from the revolutionary nature of the physics they are exploring, to the very human story of scientists confronting their hopes of a breakthrough amidst their fears of a total failure in a field they’ve dedicated their lives to.

Below you will find out more about CERN and the LHC project and don’t forget to check back next month for the interview with David and for more on an insider's look at the project, his personal work with it, and a glimpse of his documentary in the making, Particle Fever.

The Large Hadron Collider

Excerpt taken from - http://public.web.cern.ch
CERN copyright, reprinted with permission

Our understanding of the Universe is about to change...

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 100 m underground. It is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles – the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionise our understanding, from the miniscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.

Two beams of subatomic particles called 'hadrons' – either protons or lead ions – will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of experiments dedicated to the LHC.

There are many theories as to what will result from these collisions, but what's for sure is that a brave new world of physics will emerge from the new accelerator, as knowledge in particle physics goes on to describe the workings of the Universe. For decades, the Standard Model of particle physics has served physicists well as a means of understanding the fundamental laws of Nature, but it does not tell the whole story. Only experimental data using the higher energies reached by the LHC can push knowledge forward, challenging those who seek confirmation of established knowledge, and those who dare to dream beyond the paradigm.

CERN Council looks forward to LHC start-up

Excerpt taken from a CERN Press Release

Geneva, 20 June 2008. At its 147th meeting in Geneva, the CERN 1 Council heard news on progress towards start-up of the laboratory’s flagship research facility, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Commissioning of the 27-kilometre LHC began in January 2007 when the first  cool down of one of the machine’s eight sectors began. Today, five sectors are at or close to their operating temperature of 1.9 degrees above absolute zero and the remaining three are approaching that temperature. Once all sectors are cold, electrical testing will be concluded in readiness for first beams, currently scheduled for August.

“The accelerator, detectors and computing are all on course,” said CERN Director General Robert Aymar, “and we are looking forward to the earliest possible LHC start-up.”

When the LHC starts up this summer, its proton beams will collide at higher energies than have ever been produced in a particle accelerator. The collision energy of the LHC, however, is modest compared to the energies of the cosmic ray protons that have been striking the Earth’s atmosphere for billions of years.

“The LHC is the highest energy particle accelerator on Earth,” said Dr Aymar, “but the Universe has far more powerful ones. The LHC will enable us to study in detail under laboratory conditions what nature is doing already.”

The LHC is subject to numerous audits covering all aspects of safety and environmental impact. The latest of these, addressing the question of whether there is any danger related to the production of new particles at the LHC, was presented to Council at this meeting. Updating a 2003 paper, this new report incorporates recent experimental and observational data. It confirms and strengthens the conclusion of the 2003 report that there is no cause for concern. The report was prepared by a group of scientists at CERN, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“With this report, the Laboratory has fulfilled every safety and environmental evaluation necessary to ensure safe operation of this exciting new research facility,” said Dr Aymar.

The new report has been reviewed by the Scientific Policy Committee (SPC), a body that advises the CERN Council on scientific matters. A panel of five independent scientists, including one Nobel Laureate, reviewed and endorsed the authors’ approach of basing their arguments on irrefutable observational evidence to conclude that new particles produced at the LHC will pose no danger. The panel presented its conclusions to this week’s meeting of the full 20 members of the SPC, who unanimously approved this conclusion.

“It was right for the Director General of CERN to commission a formal assessment of safety issues, examining even the most unlikely of scenarios,” said Council President Torsten Åkesson. “This new report concludes that there is no basis for any concern, a position endorsed by the 20 independent experts who form the SPC.”

The new report is accompanied by a summary in non-technical language. All documents relating to the safety and environmental impact of the LHC are available through the CERN web site.

Sources:

http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/en/LHC/LHC-en.html
http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/
Releases2008/PR05.08E.html
http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~dkaplan/indexold.html