LHC Almost Online

Published by marco on

Updated by marco on

Silicon Tracking DetectorThe LHC (Large Hadron[1] Collider) is located in France and Switzerland at CERN[2]; the first experiments begin in early August 2008 and a full test of all 27km of track is planned in September. Project members expect to be analyzing the first collisions by the end of the year. The entire track will be cooled to just 1.75ºC shy of absolute zero (to -271.25ºC) and will be in-use for decades. The big expectation is that the long-sought Higgs Boson[3] makes an appearance.

The article Large Hadron Collider nearly ready (Big Picture) has dozens of high-quality images showing this incredibly large-scale machine.

[1] Hadrons like protons and neutrons are much larger particles than the electrons and positrons accelerated in smaller devices; therefore, the LHC is also much larger and can generate much more energy than any of its predecessors.↩

[2] Originally stood for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, but is now commonly translated as the European Organization for Nuclear Research.↩

[3] A very massive subatomic particle predicted by theory, but extremely short-lived and requiring large amounts of energy to generate. The LHC is the first device capable of both generating the amount of energy needed to bring it into existence and having detectors sensitive enough to unequivocably pinpoint it when it does.↩