Well, it seems that the largest and most complicated experiment in the history of humankind is…. working so far. They circulated the first beams at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) earlier today! Even Google is excited. Check out their front page:
Fun live blogging reports from the scene of events over at Resonaances, US/LHC Blogs (several posts), and Superweak, for example. I got the ATLAS readout/image below from the latter. (Presumably this is the shower of particles produced when they did the “dumping” described in Resonaances? Or just stuff produced by the edges of the beam as it passes through?) Press release from CERN here.
Update: NPR’s Morning Edition had a nice report this morning in the form of a chat between Rene Montagne and reporter David Kestenbaum. Fun to hear the audio clip of the control room. Link here.
Oh, right. The silliness. Click on that useful site I mentioned earlier to see if the earth has been destroyed as a result. (Shhhhhh!! Actually don’t tell the scare-mongers, but since for this test run there was only one beam at a time and hence no collisions, the end of the world parties and so forth were a bit premature. The only black holes that were created today in collisions at LHC energies – if it can happen at all – were the ones that would have been happening all the time all over the earth due to high energy particles from space entering our atmosphere. So nothing new to report there.)
-cvj
Some Related Asymptotia Posts (not exhaustive):
- LHC Song Growing in Listenership
- Beaming With Anticipation
- Inside CDF!
- Pauli's Other Principle
- Inside the LHC!
- Phil at LHC
- So What Are the Odds?
- Frank Common Sense
- Happy Higgs Hunters
- LHC Podcasts: Science Meets Science Fiction
- LHC Coverage
- Small Things Considered
- NPR goes to LHC
- Will People Please Stop Saying God Particle?
- A Promising Sign?
Check closely the Google logo! Isn’t it suggesting that the word “Google” is being sucked into to the collision point, as if a stable black hole has just formed there? Maybe it’s part of Google’s plan of taking over the world, by spreading mass hysteria.
HaHa! Yes.. I think it is being sucked in… Excellent!
(Shouldn’t it be “mass-energy hysteria”? Gotta get your scary scenarios properly relativistic, or the general (and special) public won’t take you seriously. …Evidently I need more morning coffee to stop this punning…)
-cvj
I’m wearing my Black Hole (Event Horizon) t-shirt today, and I’m happy to report that the science teachers shared all the LHC links I sent them (most located from your blog) with their students because when I stand in the hall during passing periods, they *notice* that I’m wearing my Black Hole t-shirt (acquired from Cotton Expressions.com). Awareness is good.
There’s a Devil in the details?
Best,
IT IS ALIVE, IT IS ALIVEEEE!!!
If you haven’t seen it yet, you must see the LHC rap song:
http://www.vimeo.com/1431471?pg=embed&sec=1431471
See my post earlier. Top of the list of related posts above.
-cvj
clifford,
I am in London and would like to know whether there are going to be any upcoming events/public lectures in light of the launch of the LHC?
Will there be any famous physicists such as Roger Penrose giving talks?
Hi, Clifford will there be any public events/ talks in London in light of the launch of the LHC?
Hi,
Not being in London, I can’t say really. I’d check local sources, since you’re there. The BBC went nuts about it for a while, I heard, but I don’t know of any events per se. Have you looked at the websites of the major physics departments in the area? How about the website of the IOP (Institute of Physics)?
Best,
-cvj
Yes, it works, but if they are not careful enough they could pay the price of celebrity. Check these recent, somewhat worrying, news.
Hi,
Thanks. That’s an interesting story. I’d not heard about that. I must contact those hackers for details, so my own team of hackers will easily be able to go in and insert my favourite string theory into the physics data next year.
Cheers,
-cvj