Dennis Overbye wrote a nice summary article in the New York Times about the current status of the delays to the Large Hadron Colllider’s (LHC’s) re-opening. (Photo left by Valerio Mezzanotti for NYT) The issue is very frustrating, overall, even though one knows that delays like this can happen (and ought to be expected to happen) if you’ve built the largest and most complicated machine ever. I (and many colleagues) have in some sense waited for the LHC almost my entire professional career, and last Summer/Fall it seemed so close to finally starting to give us physics, only to have the failure happen, and set it all back. That’s life, of course. These things happen. I’ve a great deal of faith in the engineers and scientists working to make this all come back to life, and give us the new physics we’ve all been waiting for.
In the article, there’s a lot of discussion of the ongoing issues that keep setting things back. It is all to do with unhappy magnets, wiring issues, and possibly more. It is worth a read to learn what’s going on. Link here.
-cvj
Excellent, yes.
-cvj
ah, awesome. so it’s like ironing a shirt of atoms. cool!
I am not an expert, but this is what I suspect is happening, or close to it. Any magnet is rather complicated inside, permanent or otherwise…Any material is, and its electrical or magnetic properties depend a lot on its history, since the material will rearrange its atomic structure over time under certain external stresses, electrical or otherwise. So applying a given current can train the system by forcing permanent rearrangements of its interior to better align itself with the training current. Next time around it will be better able to handle that current. Then you can go up to the next level of current, etc etc.
Best,
-cvj
delays are unfortunate, but at least the failure sounds like an awesome Michael Bay moment:
“…the junction between two magnets vaporized in a shower of sparks, soot and liberated helium.”
I’m curious about the crux of the problem, descirbed here:
“Before the superconducting magnets are installed, engineers “train” each one by ramping up its electrical current until the magnet fails, or “quenches.” Thus the magnet gradually grows comfortable with higher and higher current.”
How does the exercise improve the strength of the magnet?
Thanks! That is good to hear. Are there any other recent articles that you can point to that give a less US biased view of what’s going on? It would be much appreciated.
Best,
-cvj
“Dennis Overbye wrote a nice summary “… no, no one of my collegues I talked to on this side of the ocean thinks that this article is nice; it is overly negative, and emphasizes very much the US point of view.
.. “I’ve waited 15 years,” said Nima Arkani-Hamed, a leading particle theorist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. “I want it to get up running. We can’t tolerate another disaster.”
Oh yes? We just don’t care what Randall or Arkani-Hamed say about the LHC. They sound like if they had anything to do with the LHC, but no, it is primarily, and fortunately, an European enterprise.
I can see how one might loose hope in terms of a lifetime in waiting, while such calamities might spawn a whole new area of research in terms of superconducting?:)
Best,