When Particles Collide (APOD 25 Feb 2008)

[emc]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080225.html 8)

... A tiny peep hole into an engineering sketch of the cosmos creation origin...

[bystander]

It will be interesting to see what new answers the LHC will provide. Evidence of WIMPs, Higgs bosons, supersymmetry, gravitons????? Even more interesting, what new questions will be asked?

[emc]

Of course the science is way over my head, but I know this is an unprecedented facility and I am excited about the possible research findings so I can only imagine the physicist’s anticipation.

Larger accelerators have historically revealed more information… I can't help but wonder what an 'earth sized' accelerator would uncover??? ... probably the earth...

[neufer]

It will be interesting to see what new answers the LHC will provide.
Evidence of WIMPs, Higgs bosons, supersymmetry, gravitons?????

Evidence of WIMPs, superasymmetry & Higgs bozos:
--------------------------------
ANNOUNCER: And now... HIGGS IN SPACE! Starring the indominable Link Hogthrob, the flapable firstmate Miss HIGGy, and the inexplicable Dr. Strangepork.

(open to inner space ship. 3 seats: Strangepork on left, Hogthrob in middle and HIGGy on right. The ship is leaning heavily to the right)

ANNOUNCER: When last we left the spaceship Swinepork, the ship had developed a severe list.

HOGTHROB: (fiddling with controls) Something has developed with the gyro-slopic --what do you call it Strangepork?

STRANGEPORK: I don't know, but it's sure going to louse up our billard game tonight.

HOGTHROB: (points to Strangepork in agreement) Right.

HIGGY: (moving to Hogthrob's seat) Here, maybe I can fix it.

STRANGEPORK: You?

(the ship is balanced.)

HIGGY: Oh. There, I fixed it.

STRANGEPORK: But all you did was sit in Link's seat.

HOGTHROB: (pointing down to his seat) Maybe it took a woman's touch. Huh huh.

HIGGY: (snidely) It's working, isn't it gentlemen.

HOGTHROB: Let me get back to my seat here.

(switching seats again)

HIGGY: Excuse me.

(ship tilts right again, a small desk lamp slide on the "dashboard" to the right also.)

HOGTHROB: It's doing it again!

STRANGEPORK: Uh, HIGGy, could you come here please.

HIGGY: What for?

STRANGEPORK: Just come here.

HIGGY: Oh, all right.

(more commotion as HIGGy makes her way to Strangepork's seat. Hogthrob goes to HIGGy's and Strangepork to Hogthrob's seat. Lamp slides, ship tilts to left.)

STRANGEPORK: (nodding to HIGGy) Link, I think we've found the answer.

HOGTHROB: (to camera) Oh?

HIGGY: It's a coincidence, Strangepork.

STRANGEPORK: (snidely) Oh yeah? Why don't you go back to your seat then.

HIGGY: I think I will!

(commotion as everyone moves. ship and lamp move to HIGGy's movements. HIGGy and Hogthrob are at Hogthrob's seat. They both eye the lamp, which has moved to the center.)

HIGGY: (pausing) Uh, oh.

(she runs to her seat, ship tilts, lamp slides, to the right.)

HOGTHROB: (dumb realization) Hey, I get it now!

(points to HIGGy)

HIGGY: One word from you, lard-lips, and your dead.

HOGTHROB: As you wish, first mate FATSO!

(Hogthrob and Strangepork start laughing)

HIGGY: (enraged) Fatso?! That does it!

(she chases them to Strangeporks seat, then jumps back to her's, causing Hogthrob and Strangepork to slide to the wrath of her Karate Chop.)

HIGGY: Hiiiiii---Ya!

HOGTHROB: (shoving Strangepork) Get her away from me!

(the process repeats. Hogthrob and Strangepork moan and groan, HIGGy Karate chops again. Repeat.)

ANNOUNCER: HIIIIIIGGS IN SPAAAAAACE!

http://www.islandnet.com/~pacific/spacepig.html
------------------------------
<<Why do objects have mass? To help find out, Europe's CERN has built the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator yet created by humans. This May, the LHC is scheduled to start smashing protons into each other with unprecedented impact speeds. The LHC will explore the leading explanation that mass arises from ordinary particles slogging through an otherwise invisible but pervasive field of virtual Higgs particles. Were high energy colliding particles to create real Higgs bosons, the Higgs mechanism for mass creation may be bolstered.>>

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080225.html
------------------------------

[Axel]

The visual impact of this photo is fantastic, combining the eeriness of Piranesi's Carceri with the sharp, symmetrical perspective of some modern action comics.

[bystander]

The visual impact of this photo is fantastic, combining the eeriness of Piranesi's Carceri with the sharp, symmetrical perspective of some modern action comics.

A rather dark perspective, but I do see your point.

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/arts/ ... mages.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranesi#T ... Carceri.29

Thanks for the satire, neufer.

[emc]

Interesting take on particle accelerators... Thanks for the links!

Looks like Piranesi's glass was not only half empty... his glass was broken

[emc]

"HIGGS IN SPACE!" ?!

All I have to say is...
phe-nom-ena... na... naaa... na-na-na
phe-nom-ena... na-na-na-na
phe-nom-ena... na... naaa... na-na-na na-na-na na-na na-na na-na naaa-na!

[Indigo_Sunrise]

Anyone subscribe to the "National Geographic" Magazine? This same image is featured in their March issue, in the story on the particle accelerator in France. I haven't finished reading it yet, but so far it's interesting. (A bit over my head sometimes, but I try to grasp the idea(s).)
Excellent image, too.

[DavidLeodis]

I was intrigued by the following text in the explanation to the APOD:- "...the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator yet created by humans".

I'm curious about who else might have created it apart from humans!

[emc]

I was intrigued by the following text in the explanation to the APOD:- "...the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator yet created by humans".

I'm curious about who else might have created it apart from humans!

Interesting how often the 'thought' of space aliens pervades our culture today... of course this 'outer alien' (sometimes referred to as Gods) 'imagining' goes back to ancient times as is indicated by some of our ancestor's artistic and engineering habits.

Frankly, I was not 'shocked' to read about non-human space travelers (HIGGS in space! ) in this thread about particle accelerators. I mean, really, who thinks about particle accelerators??? Ask anyone on the street... What is a particle accelerator? and if you don't get an 'I don't know', you will likely get something like 350Z or MX2050. But ask that same person about 'space aliens' and you are apt to get a dissertation on the comings and goings from the planet Zorbo (that no one else knows about)...

[neufer]

Larger accelerators have historically revealed more information… I can't help but wonder what an 'earth sized' accelerator would uncover??? ... probably the earth...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/en ... p31cy.html

<<This new tool could probe the atom's nucleus and offered applications in medicine and chemical research.
It launched the modern era of high-energy physics. But it also launched the era of "big science.">>

[emc]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/en ... p31cy.html

<<This new tool could probe the atom's nucleus and offered applications in medicine and chemical research.
It launched the modern era of high-energy physics. But it also launched the era of "big science.">>

Thanks for the link! I wish Dr. Lawrence could have seen this new machine at work.

I found where there is research involving biomedical studies by possible interactions with cancer cells from charged particles?

[emc]

... A tiny peep hole into an engineering sketch of the cosmos creation origin...

I was hoping to get some comments/discussion regarding the implications of cosmology from particle accelerators. It has been 'projected' that the collision of the subatomic particles is likened to a minute window into the... Big Bang. 8)... plus it keeps this out of the cafe

[bystander]

Anyone subscribe to the "National Geographic" Magazine? This same image is featured in their March issue, in the story on the particle accelerator in France. I haven't finished reading it yet, but so far it's interesting.

The March 2008 National Geographic article where the picture appeared is a good place to start.

The God Particle: At the Heart of All Matter. The hunt for the God particle. By Joel Achenbach.

See also: GeoPedia's Atom Smashers

[emc]

The March 2008 National Geographic article where the picture appeared is a good place to start.

The God Particle: At the Heart of All Matter. The hunt for the God particle.

Thanks very much for the link!!! What a well written and interesting article...

Interesting title too... Leon Lederman's calling the illusive particle the 'God particle' is more than a parody... it is also redundant

[iamlucky13]

I was hoping to get some comments/discussion regarding the implications of cosmology from particle accelerators. It has been 'projected' that the collision of the subatomic particles is likened to a minute window into the... Big Bang. 8)... plus it keeps this out of the cafe

Indeed. The "temperatures" generated by collisions are similar to those expected to be present something like a few microseconds after the big bang went boom. Among the questions they try to answer by smashing things together at high energies are how the first particles formed and why there appears to be an imbalance of matter and anti-matter.

[Case]

I was intrigued by the following text in the explanation to the APOD:- "...the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator yet created by humans".

I'm curious about who else might have created it apart from humans!

Powerful particle accelerators may be a natural phenomenon somewhere in space, but they aren't useful for us trying to detect new particles here on Earth, so we humans create a 'small' (=smaller than star-size) particle accelerator that we can control. That is, we hope to be able to control it.

[Qev]

Nah, there's no threat from particle accelerators, at least no world-ending ones. If we could manage a stable strangelet out of the LHC, Earth wouldn't be here anyway as cosmic rays would've destroyed us billions of years ago.

[emc]

Again, the science is way over my head, but thankfully the information is presented in such that I can get the big picture... The collisions are uncovering or revealing "old or existing" particles that we previously could not detect and this 'ground breaking' research has been advancing our technical/social environment since the first cyclotron (thanks neufer). The LHC is exciting for its potential to uncover even more hidden information. The fact that science has been developing a relationship between stars and accelerated subatomic particles on our planet is so fascinating... my imagination reels.

[Axel]

My friend was inspired to write this poem after seeing Monday's APOD. If any lawyers are lurking, I have Blad Hansen's permission to post it.

===============================

Prayer For New Physics

... by grace of Parity
and Mind's photo-electric, virtual clarity.....

We pray for fields where are no Higg's
Twixt falling apples and gauge-like twigs.
Where boson things attached by strings
Blow photon winds beneath our wings.

Where, as the Universe gets fatter
Inflated with some dark, not-matter,
Dimensions fold as braneless non-sense
And virtual pairs count Time's inconstance.

blad hansen, covey hill, 25 02 08

[starnut]

One thing I hope that discoveries from the LHC and other future particle colliders will lead is better understanding how the gravitational force is created. Until we learn if this fundamental force can be controlled by some artificial means, long-term space travel will remain very difficult to attain. We need to find a way to neutralize the gravitational force around a spacecraft on a planet or moon so it can lift off the surface without so much energy and to create artificial gravity inside the spacecraft for people on long space travels. Otherwise, long space voyages will remain just a pipe dream.

[emc]

One thing I hope that discoveries from the LHC and other future particle colliders will lead is better understanding how the gravitational force is created. Until we learn if this fundamental force can be controlled by some artificial means, long-term space travel will remain very difficult to attain. We need to find a way to neutralize the gravitational force around a spacecraft on a planet or moon so it can lift off the surface without so much energy and to create artificial gravity inside the spacecraft for people on long space travels. Otherwise, long space voyages will remain just a pipe dream.

I very much like the way you wrote about star travel so matter-of-factly... very encouraging! ...Where's my galaxy cruiser "after-light" switch??? ...maybe it should be called "after-gravity" switch! ...what a load that would be off my mind!

[Arramon]

Anti-gravity devices would be the shnit. Isn't India supposed to be working on this and won't unveil them until after the Dec 2012 passage through the galactic plane. Not like the sun will be affected, but for some reason I remember this topic awhile back.
http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?nam ... e&sid=1228

Exotic Matter
http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?nam ... e&sid=2770

Matter/Anti-matter
http://science.howstuffworks.com/antimatter2.htm

Gravity/Anti-gravity
http://www.americanantigravity.com/arti ... Page1.html

What would cause a gravitational field to be repulsed by another gravitational field (or some other type of field)? If you can create artificial gravity, could you use that technology to make some type of bubble around the craft, or possibly certain types of alloy, metals or synthetics that would repel the two forces away from eachother or cause one to be shielded (as in the above article).

What about the magnetic fields created by planets?

We know that magnetism is stronger than gravity when really close to another magnet, and the further apart the magnets are the weaker the force... What if a craft was boosted upward using a magnetic launch pad, where the main magnet on the ground would come in contact with the craft's opposite field and shoot the two opposing forces away from eachother, thereby sending the craft up into space. Would need to be a pretty big boost. Not to mention the craft would need to be really sturdy... =b

http://www.weaponsblog.org/entry/magnet ... he-future/
http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?nam ... e&sid=2732

[iamlucky13]

I was intrigued by the following text in the explanation to the APOD:- "...the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator yet created by humans".

I'm curious about who else might have created it apart from humans!

Powerful particle accelerators may be a natural phenomenon somewhere in space, but they aren't useful for us trying to detect new particles here on Earth, so we humans create a 'small' (=smaller than star-size) particle accelerator that we can control. That is, we hope to be able to control it.

In nature high energy cosmic rays daily collide with the earth at far greater energies than the LHC will achieve. Unfortunately, it's not enough to merely have an event...it takes a really complex instrument to study it.

In fact, the APOD shows only the barebones frame of the uncompleted ATLAS, which itself is but one part of the LHC. Two streams of particles are accellerated around a 27 km ring in opposite directions to nearly the speed of light. At the very center of Atlas (and in five other detectors arranged around the ring), the streams cross, causing about 600 million proton collisions per second. As collisions happen, the high energies cause exotic particles to form that decay almost instaneously, detectable as daughter particles fly through the massive inards of ATLAS in a manner unique to each particle.

Yet even at this amazing rate of collisions, the particular events they are looking for are extremely rare...about 0.00001% of collisions produce something considered interesting, and particular events, such as the manifestation of a Higgs Boson, are likely even far more rare.

http://lhc-machine-outreach.web.cern.ch ... -outreach/