News LHC twitter!

[TdC]

Wouldn't that make Jup older too, or are your hardons living in a different time-reality due to the first hardon collision?

as much as I would like to say my co>< is from an alternate dimension, I won't, mostly because I gather that current dimension theory makes the ones other than the big three really tiny


also, if you want an awesome and easy explanation of that the LHC and it's associated machines do, look up alpinekat's LHC rap on youtube.

 

[Ctuchik]

They cannot explain the expansion of the Universe with the mass they can observe - thus someone came up with the theory of Darkmatter - stuff with mass that cant be seen

so if they cant "see" it then how will they detect it?

even if they do manage to reproduce the stuff in that giant hula hoop theres no guarantee that they can see it then either..

i mean, how the hell do you make something that detects something you can't detect, or even prove exist

 

[Chilly]

Detection by inference. Very simple principle. You can't always see a window, yet the fact that its dry and there's no wind when you stand in front of it implies there is a barrier. (Ok it's a fucking clean window, but you get the point).

 

[Rulke]

Proof of dark matter

 

[Cadelin]

LHC sets new world record

Geneva, 30 November 2009. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider has today become the world’s highest energy particle accelerator, having accelerated its twin beams of protons to an energy of 1.18 TeV in the early hours of the morning. This exceeds the previous world record of 0.98 TeV, which had been held by the US Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Tevatron collider since 2001. It marks another important milestone on the road to first physics at the LHC in 2010.

“We are still coming to terms with just how smoothly the LHC commissioning is going,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “It is fantastic. However, we are continuing to take it step by step, and there is still a lot to do before we start physics in 2010. I’m keeping my champagne on ice until then.”

These developments come just 10 days after the LHC restart, demonstrating the excellent performance of the machine. First beams were injected into the LHC on Friday 20 November. Over the following days, the machine’s operators circulated beams around the ring alternately in one direction and then the other at the injection energy of 450 GeV, gradually increasing the beam lifetime to around 10 hours. On Monday 23 November, two beams circulated together for the first time, and the four big LHC detectors recorded their first collision data.

Last night’s achievement brings further confirmation that the LHC is progressing smoothly towards the objective of first physics early in 2010.The world record energy was first broken yesterday evening, when beam 1 was accelerated from 450 GeV, reaching 1050 GeV (1.05 TeV) at 21:28, Sunday 29 November. Three hours later both LHC beams were successfully accelerated to 1.18 TeV, at 00:44, 30 November.

“I was here 20 years ago when we switched on CERN’s last major particle accelerator, LEP,” said Research and Technology Director Steve Myers. “I thought that was a great machine to operate, but this is something else. What took us days or weeks with LEP, we’re doing in hours with the LHC. So far, it all augurs well for a great research programme.”

Next on the schedule is a concentrated commissioning phase aimed at increasing the beam intensity before delivering good quantities of collision data to the experiments before Christmas. So far, all the LHC commissioning work has been carried out with a low intensity pilot beam. Higher intensity is needed to provide meaningful proton-proton collision rates. The current commissioning phase aims to make sure that these higher intensities can be safely handled and that stable conditions can be guaranteed for the experiments during collisions. This phase is estimated to take around a week, after which the LHC will be colliding beams for calibration purposes until the end of the year.

First physics at the LHC is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010, at a collision energy of 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam).

 

[Marc]

For those of us that dont understand, just how much power is a GeV/TeV? This world record, what its the equivalent of in laymans terms?

 

[Cadelin]

For those of us that dont understand, just how much power is a GeV/TeV? This world record, what its the equivalent of in laymans terms?

1 proton accelerated to this energy has about the same momentum as a mosquito. However there are an awful lot of protons in the beam so if you were hit by the beam it would be the same as being hit by about 140 cars driving at 50 mph.

 

[old.Tohtori]

All these cadelin reports sound like the start of a very major event, or a hollywood movie;

"LHC is going to be operational at this time."
"Initial reports seem promising."
"The first tests went great, we are very excited."
"The LHC exceeds the earlier power record."
"There is a minor hicup in the beam stabilizer. Maintenance is already under way."
"Minor glitches fixed."
"The LHC is reported to go live, full power, later this evening."
"There is no word on the LHC full power experiment."
"There hasn't been any contact with the facility in 3 days."
"Inspection team is scheduled for later today."
"This is the public emergency broadcast system; everything will be alright."

 

[Jiggs]

You know the bit where the beams collide...

Can you actually see it? I mean is there a big *bang* and some flashes of light or is it that everything can only be "seen" by special detectors. Just asking because it would be kind of funny if they spent $10bn and it just goes *plip*

 

[Marc]

Couldnt we have just spent the £4billion it cost to make on something thats actually important, like cancer research or poverty?

Lets face it, its just an excuse for a load of scientists to have a jolly and pretend they are actually doing something worth while.

 

[Vae]

I think I'll let this quote do my talking:

Sen. Jack Enlow, D-IL: If we can only say what benefit this thing has. No one's been able to do that.
Dr. Dalton Millgate: That's because great achievement has no road map. The X-Ray is pretty good, and so is penicillin, and neither were discovered with a practical objective in mind. I mean, when the electron was discovered in 1897, it was useless. And now we have an entire world run by electronics. Hayden and Mozart never studied the classics. They couldn't. They invented them.
Sam Seaborn: Discovery.
Dr. Dalton Millgate: What?
Sam Seaborn: That's the thing that you were... Discovery is what. That's what this is used for. It's for discovery.

 

[Ch3tan]

In before CERN? BBC News - The first glimpse of dark matter?

Those yanks, always trying to win things.

 

[rynnor]

In before CERN? BBC News - The first glimpse of dark matter?

Those yanks, always trying to win things.

Not very convincing tho 'could be background interference from the sensors'

 

[Mabs]

1 proton accelerated to this energy has about the same momentum as a mosquito. However there are an awful lot of protons in the beam so if you were hit by the beam it would be the same as being hit by about 140 cars driving at 50 mph.

so how long till the military starts funding it ?

 

[Cadelin]

In before CERN? BBC News - The first glimpse of dark matter?

Those yanks, always trying to win things.

You can read the paper here if you like. They don't have anywhere near enough events to claim a discovery (only 2 possibles) but maybe just enough to get some more funding!

The detector is however very different from any of the detectors at the LHC. While the LHC may discover evidence of dark matter that's not its primary aim. The search for WIMPs is really a separate field, although any discovery would hopefully help our understanding of particle physics in general.


Also todays message from the Director General of CERN:
Reflecting on a historic year for CERN

Christmas is a time for contemplative reflection, and after 12 months in office, for me at least, there’s plenty to reflect upon. One of the first things I did on taking up my mandate was to give an interview to the Bulletin, setting out my priorities for the months ahead. The top priority for 2009 was to repair the LHC and install protection systems to ensure that we would not find ourselves back where we were on 19 September 2008. We also planned to re-introduce the LEP-era tradition of the Chamonix workshop to take stock and plan for the year ahead.

Although focusing on the LHC, we made time for workshops on future fixed-target and neutrino physics at CERN, established a new external relations office and added knowledge transfer to the lab’s technology transfer mandate. Not mentioned in that January Bulletin article, but of vital importance to the lab nonetheless, was the plan to bring in a new contract policy.

Looking back, I think we have done pretty well with this ambitious programme for the year, and I’d like to thank each and every one of you for the part you’ve played. The things CERN achieves because of its creative, forward-thinking and dedicated people are truly amazing.

The LHC has, of course, been the star. When people from the machine met with people from the experiments in Chamonix in February, they set themselves the objective of getting the LHC up and running before the end of the year, with an energy rising towards 5 TeV during the course of the 2009-2010 run. Although the date discussed in Chamonix for first beam proved to be a little ambitious, we have achieved all our objectives for the LHC in 2009. Stable beams have circulated reliably, a world record collision energy has been set, and all the experiments have collected substantial quantities of data. It has been a fantastic year for the LHC, and although it’s been said before, I want to underline the fact that it has been made possible by the unique global collaboration that is particle physics. It has been truly heart-warming to see the community pulling together to achieve its goals.

Away from the LHC, the fixed-target and neutrino workshops produced a wealth of good ideas that will take time to digest, but which I hope will lead to a vibrant programme for the future. The existing fixed-target run was very successful in 2009, with our accelerator complex delivering many more protons on target than planned. Our stakeholder relations have been streamlined through the external relations office, and our knowledge and technology transfer group is on the verge of launching the lab’s alumni initiative: the CERN global network. The new contract policy came into force on 1 August, smoothing the process and adding flexibility to our recruitment.

In 2009 the number of CERN users passed the 10000 mark for the first time, and we have received formal applications for membership from five countries. In the light of this, work got underway on-site to prepare our basic infrastructure for a growing number of people. Over recent years, our buildings and public spaces have received only the minimum of necessary maintenance, and the time has now come for serious investment. The signs of this have been visible across the CERN sites throughout the year, and include a much-needed extension to restaurant 1.

Public interest in CERN remained high in 2009, with some very positive results for particle physics. Media coverage has been sustained and largely enthusiastic. CERN and LHC have regularly been among the most talked about terms on the web, and even the word ‘hadron’ made a list of the top 15 words of the year as compiled by one company that monitors language trends. Science’s rightful place is at the heart of culture, and at the heart of public debate. The LHC is doing its part to put science there, and at the same time building a platform for us to pass our key message of basic science as a driver for knowledge and innovation.

All in all, I think we can all look back with pride on a historic year for CERN. It’s been the year that the LHC started to deliver, and with physics foreseen for the first quarter of 2010, next year is set to be equally memorable. That’s all the more reason for us all to take a well-earned end of year break, and enjoy the opportunity that the festive season brings for reflection. I would like to wish you and your families a very restful holiday, and would like to invite you all to my New Year’s presentation on 11 January. Until then, seasons greetings to you all.

Rolf Heuer

 

[Cadelin]

We had the first real high energy collisions at the LHC today (and didn't destroy the world):

More images from the ATLAS detector.

Images from the CMS detector.

 

[TdC]

awesome, Cadelin mind breaking down what we are looking at in the pic there? colours, etc?

 

[Tilda]

Cadelin, are you there?

 

[Cadelin]

The purple cylinder is the inner detector. You can think of it like many layers o pixel (like in a digital camera). As charged particles pass through particles the detector picks it up and you can see a white dot. The orange lines are join up the white dots coming from the where the collision took place.

The green blobs are hits in the calorimeter. The bigger the blob the more energy was deposited there. What you hope to find is an orange line that ends up as a green blob. You can then measure the momentum from the curvature of the track and the energy from the size of the green blob and then work out what type of particle it was (probably an electron or a jet) If you just have a green blob then you probably have a photon.

The yellow blobs are hits in the muon detectors which are outside the calorimeter. Once again if you can find an orange line that ends in a yellow blob then you might have found a muon.

You can then start to add up these particles to find out what created them.

This particular event is not very interesting, except from the fact that it was the first one we picked up, so it was the record breaking one!

Cadelin, are you there?

I am based back in the UK now. I was out in Geneva for 3 years and returned in October last year. I still work on ATLAS in the computing centre at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory which is one of 10 around the world that will now process the data that comes out of the LHC experiments and turn it into physics results.

 

[TdC]

so you want to see the orange lines actually touching the green or yellow blobs, or do you have to extrapolate?

the white dots are just readings, whereas the orange lines are an actual hit?


sorry for the noob questions, but I find this very interesting

 

[rynnor]

Does anyone else think the LHC is just a colossal waste of money based on flawed theories?

You could make it a million times more powerfull and you still wouldnt find 'dark matter' or as I like to think of it 'pixie dust'.

I wouldnt mind but I dont even think it'll produce any black-holes to swallow France <sigh>.

 

[Raven]

Not really, no.

Anything that furthers our understanding of "shit" will help us, whether its energy creation or just plain old physics, how the world is put together and whatnot. Who knows what they will eventually discover, a new energy source, how to bend space, discovering dark matter, rather than just theorising about it would be a huge step forward.

 

[razeredge]

The view is very impressive, they have a live feed here:
lhc

 

[Talyn]

The view is very impressive, they have a live feed here:
lhc

I believe this may be the 3rd Glennage of this 'webcam'.

Unless of course time travel was invented while I was sleeping?

 

[Wij]

I believe this may be the 3rd Glennage of this 'webcam'.

Unless of course time travel was invented while I was sleeping?

Actually the LHC has dumped you into another dimension. We are all the evil versions of ourselves with goatee beards !

Cheers,

Evil-Wij

 

[Talyn]

Dammit, now.. what do I need?

A delorian, flux-capactor, no wait, that's time travel.

hmmm, how about a device that sends you to sleep for 3 minutes and 17 seconds? nope, that's just weird science.

ooh, ooh, I know, A plane from Oz to the US, that's what I need, thats dimensions, parallell universes and time travel right?

Now, I just need a compass...

 

[Wij]

.
.
.
.
.
.
<== You are trapped in the EVIL world now.

It looks much the same as the one you know but there are subtle differences. For instance the UK is run by a maniacal sociopath who is determined to control every aspect of your life !!!!!!1




















...













Wait a minute ...

 

[Ctuchik]

We had the first real high energy collisions at the LHC today (and didn't destroy the world)

doesn't mean it wont happen at some point

pretty confident that at some point they get overconfident and cream to much power into it and the last thing anyone will ever read on the internet will be me writing "i told you so"

 

[dub]

Does anyone else think the LHC is just a colossal waste of money based on flawed theories?

You could make it a million times more powerfull and you still wouldnt find 'dark matter' or as I like to think of it 'pixie dust'.

I wouldnt mind but I dont even think it'll produce any black-holes to swallow France <sigh>.

its about the only thing worth spending money on besides food and medicine and spaceships

 

[Wij]

and tributes to the evil emporer !!!


MWUHAHAHA !