Does Anyone Know Anything About Hadron's Collider?

Question

I know it is a Collider that will create a huge Black Hole, but I can't find the purpose of doing this or how it is being done. What will we learn? What knowledge can come from this? It is located in Cern, Switzerland where there is a huge observatory, with hundreds of physicists working on the Collider. I thought perhaps a physics student might explain it for all of us. The collider is slated to be launched on January 10, 2009. There is non-zero chance of it causing a calamity, I guess it could conceivably suck up the earth and annihilate everything, but it has a non-zero chance of doing this. My question is....what is it? What is it for? And what are we trying to learn by doing this?. And, let me add, what is non-zero? Eeeeks!

Answer 1

Clearer heads are trying to stop it:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2...

They keep having engineering problems, which should scare everyone considering what they are trying to do: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=part...

Answer 2

The concept was first developed in game theory and consequently zero-sum situations are often called zero-sum games though this does not imply that the concept, or game theory itself, applies only to what are commonly referred to as games.

In game theory and economic theory, zero-sum describes a situation in which a participant's gain or loss is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the other participant(s). If the total gains of the participants are added up, and the total losses are subtracted, they will sum to zero.  

Answer 3

The LHC is intended to look for the Higg's boson and physics beyond the standard model of particle physics such as super symmetry and dark matter/energy candidates. The standard model does not predict that the LHC will produce mini-Black Holes; however, if physics beyond the standard model is found to hold, then mini-Black Holes might be possible. These mini-Black holes might be produced at a rate in the order of one per second. According to the some calculations, these ‘holes’ are harmless because they will quickly decay via ‘Hawking radiation’ and explode into a shower of particles. The problem with ‘Hawking radiation’ is that it too is unproven physics and, thus, might not be a correct explanation for the disappearance of mini-Black Holes. An unlikely, accumulation of mini-Black Holes could be a ‘small’ problem.

Below I will detail some of the physics that the LHC is attempting to explore.

The weak interaction is mediated by spin-1 bosons which act as force carriers between quarks and/or leptons. There are three of these intermediate vector bosons, which were all discovered at CERN in 1983. They are the charged bosons W+ and W- and the neutral Z0. Their masses are measured to be: -

M(W) = 80.3 Gev/c² and M(Z) = 91.2 Gev/c²

which gives their ranges as: -

R(W) ≈ R(Z) ≈ 2 x 10^-3 fm

Their decay modes are as follows: -

W+ -> l+ + vl

W- -> l- + vl'

Z0 -> l+ + l-

Where the l's stand for leptons and the v's for neutrinos with the prime ' indicating an anti-neutrino.

This introduction sets the scene for what follows!

The intermediate vector bosons gain their mass from the Higgs boson. Please allow me to explain.

During the nineteen-sixties the theoretical physicists Glashow, Salam and Weinberg developed a theory which unified the electromagnetic and the weak nuclear forces. This theory is known as the ‘electroweak’ theory, it predicted the neutral vector boson Z0, and weak nuclear force reactions arising from its exchange, in what are known as neutral current reactions. The theory also accounted for the heavy charged bosons W+ and W-, required for the mediation of all observed weak interactions, known as charged current reactions. These particles were discovered in 1983.This unified theory is a ‘gauge invariance’ theory, which means that if the components of its underlying equations are transformed, in position or potential, they still predict exactly the same physics. Because the force carrying particles (Z0, W+ and W-), of this theory, are massive spin-1 bosons a spin-0 boson is required to complete the theory. This spin-0 boson is the as yet unobserved ‘Higgs’ boson.

The masses of the force carrying bosons (Z0, W+ and W-), for the electroweak theory, are derived from their interaction with the scalar Higgs field. Unlike other physical fields, the Higgs field has a non-zero value in the vacuum state, labelled φ0, and furthermore this value is not invariant under gauge transformation. Hence, this gauge invariance is referred to as a ‘hidden’ or ‘spontaneously broken’ symmetry. The Higgs field has three main consequences’. The first, is that the electroweak force carrying bosons (Z0, W+ and W-) can acquire mass in the ratio: -

M(W) =cosθ(W)

_____

M(Z)

Where θ(W) Is the electroweak mixing angle. These masses arise from the interactions of the gauge fields with the non-zero vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field. Secondly, there are electrically neutral quanta H0, called Higgs bosons, associated with the Higgs field, just as photons are associated with the electromagnetic field. Thirdly, the Higgs field throws light on the origin of the quark and lepton masses. In the absence of the Higgs field the requirements of gauge invariance on the masses of spin-½ fermions (quarks and leptons etc,) would set them at zero for parity violating interactions (non-mirror image interactions). Parity is a conserved quantity in strong nuclear force and electromagnetic interactions but is violated in weak nuclear force interactions, which would make quark and lepton masses zero in this later case. However, interactions with the Higgs field can generate fermion masses due to the non-zero expectation value φ0 of this field, as well as with interactions with the Higgs bosons. These interactions have a dimensionless coupling constant g(Hff) related to the fermions mass m(f) by the expression: -

g(Hff) = √ (√2G(f)m(f) ²)

Where G(f) is the Fermi coupling constant and f is any quark or lepton flavour. However, this theory, that the fermion masses are mediated by their interaction with the Higgs field, does not predict their mass m(f). However, with the future discovery of the Higgs boson the above equation can be used to confirm the observed coupling constant g(Hff).

At CERN, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will search for the Higgs boson at an energy of up to 1 TeV by colliding protons in the reaction: -

p + p -> H0 + X

Where X is any state allowed by the usual conservation laws.

The upper atmosphere is a more energetic 'particle physics laboratory' than the LHC. If cosmic rays, slamming into the upper atmosphere, create mini-black holes then these decay rapidly! However, it may be that mini-black holes are not produce - at all - in high-energy particle collisions.

  

Answer 4

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located in Cern is a significant achievement. In this, they accelerate particles to 99.99% of the speed of light and then cause them to collide, thus recreating the condition that existed at the time of the Big Bang. Through this experiment, they're trying to detect what is called "Higg's bosons". These are entities thought to give mass to matter. I don't know if it's gonna create a black hole. If it does, there's no doubt, true annihilation awaits. But i don't see a reason why a black hole would be formed. Besides, that's not what they're trying to do. The conditions for the formation of a black hole are quite different from the above.

And, non-zero means that there is a possibility that it may happen. In other words, you cannot be 100% sure that it won't happen.

Answer 5

They are definitely not going to create 'a huge black hole.'

The point is to learn new things about our universe.  Basic research is always at the forefront of knowledge, and it's almost impossible to predict what exactly you'll learn.

When cave biologists started studying cave microbes in Carlsbad Caverns, they didn't expect the microbes to have the ability to destroy cancer and might possibly lead to a cure.  It's like that.  If someone asks you what you might learn if you look inside a mysterious room no one has ever been in before, how do you answer that?  You never know quite what you'll learn until you look.

By the way, the probability is zero for any practical purpose.  When they say 'non-zero' they are talking about something so improbable that the thing will need to run for greater than the age of the universe before something happens.

Only gullible, alarmist people who do not understand the science are worried about this.  There is no need for you to be drawn into their worry.  Get ready to learn about all the amazing things this thing is going to teach us.