WHERE ?
AT THE BORDER OF FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND, MANY COUNTRIES ARE WORKING TOGETHER AT CERN,
THE EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH, ON AN AMAZING PROJECT.
IN A 27KM TUNNEL ABOUT 100M UNDERGROUND SITS THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SCIENTIFIC TOOL, A
PARTICLE ACCELERATOR CALLED THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER, OR LHC.
VAST CATHEDRAL-SIZED CAVERNS HOUSE GIGANTIC PARTICLE DETECTORS .
THE COMPACT MUON SOLENOID OR CMS, IS ONE OF THESE DETECTORS, A NEW GENERATION
PARTICLE HUNTER BUILT BY A WORLDWIDE COLLABORATION OF SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS.
WHY?
TO UNDERSTAND THE ORIGINS OF MATTER AND FORCES FROM
THE BIG BANG 14BILLION YEARS AGO, RIGHT UP TO THE PRESENT
DAY AND BEYOND.
JUST AFTER THE BIG BANG THE UNIVERSE WAS A VERY DIFFERENT
PLACE, A STRANGE SOUP OF EXOTIC PARTICLES AND ANTI-
PARTICLES TOTALLY UNLIKE THE STUFF WE’RE MADE OF TODAY.
MORE THAN 95% OF THE ENERGY AND MATERIAL THAT WE
KNOW EXISTS IN THE UNIVERSE REMAINS UNACCOUNTED FOR.
CMS AND LHC WILL TRY TO EXPLAIN THESE PUZZLES.
HOW?
BY ACCELERATING TWO BEAMS OF 100000 MILLION PROTONS
TO 99.9998% OF THE SPEED OF LIGHT AND THEN CRASHING
THEM TOGETHER HEAD-ON.
THE LHC CCELERATES THE PROTONS USING RADIO WAVES – THE
PARTICLE PICK UP SPEED LIKE SURFERS RIDING DOWN BIG OCEAN
WAVES BEFORE TO BE FOCUSED TO LESS THAN A HAIR’S BREADTH
FOR COLLISIONS AT THE CENTRE OF CMS.
CRYOGENIC SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS, COLDER THAN
OUTER SPACE STEER THE BEAMS ROUND AND AROUND
WHAT IS OBSERVED?
LIKE DETECTIVES, PHYSICISTS CAREFULLY SIFT THROUGH
ALL THE EVIDENCE RECORDED BY THE CMS DETECTOR.
LOOKING FOR NEW PARTICLES IS LIKE SEARCHING A FOR
NEEDLE LOST IN A THOUSAND HAYSTACKS. POWERFUL
ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTERS NARROW DOWN
THIS SEARCH WITH INCREDIBLE SPEED AND ACCURACY.
ARE THERE ANY APPLICATIONS?
PARTICLE PHYSICS IS FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH, AN IMPORTANT
HUMAN ENDEAVOUR SINCE ANCIENT TIMES. THE MAIN AIM IS TO
INCREASING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE.
NEVERTHELESS, SOME VERY IMPORTANT ADVANCES HAVE
COME OUT OF PARTICLE PHYSICS: MEDICAL IMAGING, NUCLEAR
MEDICINE AND THE WEB ARE AMONG THE MOST RECENT
DEVELOPMENTS.
WHAT’S NEXT? COME, JOIN IN AND MAKE IT HAPPEN……
WHAT HAPPENS?
EVERY 25 NANOSECONDS A FEW PROTONS COLLIDE AT THE CENTE OF CMS AND THE TEMPERATURE
MOMENTARILY PASSES A BILLION DEGREES, MAKING A VERY SMALL ‘BIG BANG’. PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN
AND SUPER-HEAVY PARTICLES, EXTINCT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME, MAY REAPPEAR FOR JUST THE
TINIEST FRACTION OF A SECOND. THEN THEY DISINTEGRATE, THEIR MASS CONVERTS TO ENERGY CREATING
A CASCADE OF MAYBE HUNDREDS OF MORE FAMILIAR PARTICLES THAT BLAST
INTO CMS. WE CAN SEE AND MEASURE THESE PARTICLES IN CMS AND LATER RECONSTRUCT WHAT HAPPENED.