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Large Hadron Collider Breaks Energy RecordBy 300%
Ker Than, National Geographic News, March 19, 2010
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) set a new energy record this morning, tripling its former peak performance. In doing so, the "big bang machine" took an important step toward full-power operation.
At 5:20 a.m., local time, in Geneva, Switzerland, physicists sent two proton beams racing around the Large Hadron Collider's oval-shaped, 17-mile-long (27-kilometer-long) underground tunnel.
Each beam packed a powerful 3.5-trillion-electron-volt (TeV) punchthe highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator, or atom smasher.
The Large Hadron Collider had also set the previous record. Last December the LHC smashed two 1.18-TeV beams to create a 2.36-TeV collision.
The two 3.5-TeV beams will eventually be smashed together to create a whopping 7-TeV energy collisionhalf the collider's maximum energy level.
"We're all hoping [the collision] will happen in the next couple of weeks," said James Gillies, a spokesperson for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which operates the machine.
"If things continue carrying on the way they've been, that's a pretty safe estimate."
Large Hadron Collider Not Fully Recovered
Once 7-TeV collisions begin, the plan is to have the Large Hadron Collider, which lies beneath the French-Swiss border, run continuously for 18 to 24 months before a scheduled shutdown that could last a year or more.
The long break is necessary to complete repairs from an LHC electrical malfunction in 2008, Gillies said. The hiatus will also allow engineers to prepare the collider for 14-TeV collisionsthe atom smasher's maximum operating energy.
"We haven't fully recovered from the problems we had in September 2008," Gillies said. "There's still work to be done on the machine before we can move to higher energy. And there's routine maintenancethere always is with these machines."
But even at half power, there will be plenty of things to keep the LHC scientists busy, Gillies said.
Even at 7-TeV, experts say, the LHC could discover long-sought partners of known subatomic particles, evidence of new dimensions, or even the Higgs bosonaka the God particlea theoretical particle that physicists think is responsible for mass in the universe.
Large Hadron Collider Breaks Energy Record?By 300%
Ker Than, National Geographic News, March 19, 2010
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) set a new energy record this morning, tripling its former peak performance. In doing so, the "big bang machine" took an important step toward full-power operation.
At 5:20 a.m., local time, in Geneva, Switzerland, physicists sent two proton beams racing around the Large Hadron Collider's oval-shaped, 17-mile-long (27-kilometer-long) underground tunnel.
Each beam packed a powerful 3.5-trillion-electron-volt (TeV) punchthe highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator, or atom smasher.
The Large Hadron Collider had also set the previous record. Last December the LHC smashed two 1.18-TeV beams to create a 2.36-TeV collision.
The two 3.5-TeV beams will eventually be smashed together to create a whopping 7-TeV energy collisionhalf the collider's maximum energy level.
"We're all hoping [the collision] will happen in the next couple of weeks," said James Gillies, a spokesperson for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which operates the machine.
"If things continue carrying on the way they've been, that's a pretty safe estimate."
Large Hadron Collider Not Fully Recovered
Once 7-TeV collisions begin, the plan is to have the Large Hadron Collider, which lies beneath the French-Swiss border, run continuously for 18 to 24 months before a scheduled shutdown that could last a year or more.
The long break is necessary to complete repairs from an LHC electrical malfunction in 2008, Gillies said. The hiatus will also allow engineers to prepare the collider for 14-TeV collisionsthe atom smasher's maximum operating energy.
"We haven't fully recovered from the problems we had in September 2008," Gillies said. "There's still work to be done on the machine before we can move to higher energy. And there's routine maintenancethere always is with these machines."
But even at half power, there will be plenty of things to keep the LHC scientists busy, Gillies said.
Even at 7-TeV, experts say, the LHC could discover long-sought partners of known subatomic particles, evidence of new dimensions, or even the Higgs bosonaka the God particlea theoretical particle that physicists think is responsible for mass in the universe.
Large Hadron Collider Breaks Energy Record?By 300%