What is Large hadron collider: Definition and 111 Discussions

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundreds of universities and laboratories, as well as more than 100 countries. It lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres (17 mi) in circumference and as deep as 175 metres (574 ft) beneath the France–Switzerland border near Geneva.
The first collisions were achieved in 2010 at an energy of 3.5 teraelectronvolts (TeV) per beam, about four times the previous world record. After upgrades it reached 6.5 TeV per beam (13 TeV total collision energy, the present world record). At the end of 2018, it entered a two-year shutdown period for further upgrades.
The collider has four crossing points, around which are positioned seven detectors, each designed for certain kinds of research. The LHC primarily collides proton beams, but it can also use beams of heavy ions: lead–lead collisions and proton–lead collisions are typically done for one month per year. The aim of the LHC's detectors is to allow physicists to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics, including measuring the properties of the Higgs boson and searching for the large family of new particles predicted by supersymmetric theories, as well as other unsolved questions of physics.

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  1. K

    CERN's Large Hadron Collider Makes Its First Beam Circulation

    So they didn't seem to collide any particles yet? I'm not too knowledgeable about this topic, but it must be something "landmark" as Google altered their logo to inform people about this. Anyways, there's a link to the article here...
  2. D

    When Will We See Results from the Large Hadron Collider's Latest Experiments?

    http://www.lhcountdown.com/?p=13#comments The countdown is close to the end! Anyone know when we should expect results of new (or lack of) finds? I mean public announcement. A day? A week? 72 years!?
  3. T

    What are your thoughts about the Large Hadron Collider?

    I would like to hear what your thoughts are about the Large Hadron Collider they are going to fire up in August? Think were making a doom's day product?
  4. M

    Large Hadron Collider Question

    Hello All This is a question from a complete physics ingnoramus, and a quick search on google brought this forum up as a good place to start! Also, apologies if I'm in the wrong bit of the forum. Right, the question. I've been reading about the Large Hadron Collider in Cern, and it keeps...
  5. M

    Exploring the Risks of the Large Hadron Collider

    Hi, I have no academic grounding in advanced physics, but I have read a lot of the popular books on physics, and am generally interested in it. (In a couple of years that's probably what I'll learn in college). Anyway, there are people who are afraid that when the LHC goes on this summer we...
  6. C

    Large Hadron Collider Black Holes

    I understand that if black holes were created in the LHC, they should evaporate in 10^-100 seconds and be created at 1 black hole per second. The collider produces 10^8 collisions per second. The lifespan of a black hole increases with mass^3. I was wondering whether it would be possible for a...
  7. S

    Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Dangers?

    The highest energy particle collisions ever attempted will begin at LHC at CERN near Geneva later this year. Are there any possible risks, even at an extremely low probability, from these experiments? Could we accidently trigger something like fusion? Could micro-black holes fuse and become a...
  8. Pythagorean

    Potential Risks of the Large Hadron Collider

    Two Russian Mathematicians claim that the Large Hadron Collider (being built in Switzerland) has the potential to "tear holes" in spacetime. Here is their paper written from the http://www.mi.ras.ru/index.php?l=1" http://arxiv.org/pdf/0710.2696 Just curious on people's thoughts.
  9. G

    Cross Section Large Hadron Collider

    Homework Statement b) The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 14 TeV proton-proton collider, will produce about a million Z0 per year. Explain why the cross section of such a process can be approximately written as: d\sigma / d\Omega = F_{q/p}(X_{1})F_{q'/p}(X_{2})d\sigma '(qq' \rightarrow...
  10. C

    What's the Real Story Behind the Large Hadron Collider?

    Today's issue of the Science Times features a long article by Dennis Overbye on the Large Hadron Collider. It includes some pictures credited to Physics World, Sept. 2004, from which credit I presume the "particle sprays" are in fact either simulations or else do not depict ATLAS data--- my...
  11. S

    What do they expect from the Large Hadron Collider ?

    I've read here http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/general/gen_info.htm about the LHC buing under construction at CERN and they say that it will collide protons and other ions at very high speeds , but they don't say what new particles are expected to appear ,or what theories do they expect to be...
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