On September 10, 2008, a beam of protons was ejected for the first time, circling the LHC16.5 mile (27 km) long ring, which is the largest and most powerful atomic pulverizer ever built by LHC in the world. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is located in the laboratory of CERN in the suburb of Geneva, Switzerland. Its purpose is to collide high-energy proton beams at a speed close to the speed of light. The stated goal is to create and discover the Higgs boson, which is the last missing part of the standard model and our best theory about the behavior of subatomic matter. But the goal is far more than that. What we really want to do is to find something completely unexpected-so big and so new, which means we must rewrite the textbook.
The Large Hadron Collider didn't turn on quietly. A few weeks and months ago, the media was filled with breathtaking fear stories that the Large Hadron Collider would form a black hole and destroy the earth. The media have refuted these sensational claims well, but this report is too good for even the most responsible print media, online media and broadcast media to publish.
The laboratory of the European Institute of Particle Physics, where LHC is located, decided to invite the media to watch the first beam emitted by LHC. The craze for black holes ensured the emergence of the media. The BBC, CNN, Reuters and more than a dozen international media attended the ceremony. Black holes aside, from the public relations point of view, this is a dangerous choice: brand-new accelerators are picky beasts, especially the Large Hadron Collider. It consists of thousands of magnets, tens of thousands of power supplies and monitoring electronic equipment. The slightest accident may delay the first successful beam cycle for days or weeks. [Photo: The world's largest atomic pulverizer (LHC).
There were some tense moments that morning. The first few attempts failed because of some rebellious power sources. However, at 10:30 am local time, the accelerator operator successfully passed a beam of extremely low-intensity protons through the whole complex. Because the LHC is essentially two accelerators-used to accommodate beams in opposite directions-the next step is to guide the beams through the second set of beam tubes. It happened shortly after the first success. The media in the world have truthfully announced this technological achievement. Particle physics rarely gets exposure from this medium.
Although it attracted the attention of the whole world, the achievements made that day were relatively limited. The low-energy and low-intensity beam from the feed accelerator is injected into the Large Hadron Collider. The beam circulates in the ring several times, and the energy is very low, which is the lowest energy designed by the Large Hadron Collider. The working mode of the Large Hadron Collider is to receive the particle beam from a smaller accelerator, and then accelerate the particle beam to more than 15 times higher than the received energy. In the first attempt, there was no intention to accelerate the beam. As long as it is successfully circled, it is enough.
In addition, the intensity of the light beam is less than one tenth of the design intensity. In a particle beam, the intensity is similar to the brightness of light. By adding more protons or focusing the beam to a smaller size, the beam can become stronger. On that day, focusing was still the future goal, and only a few protons were put into the accelerator. At first, the time of the actual accelerator electronics was not completely correct. So, obviously, there is still a way to go.
But, anyway. This is exciting and undoubtedly an important stepping stone to comprehensive action. The cork was punctured. I drank too much champagne. Take a picture on the back. It's a fine day today. I'm not the first CERN. After all, my interest in the Large Hadron Collider is to crush high-energy particles with it, and everyone knows that there will be no collision at that time. On the contrary, I work in Fermilab, the flagship particle accelerator laboratory in the United States, and the most influential research institution engaged in data analysis of the Large Hadron Collider besides CERN. The two laboratories are brothers. When a technical obstacle is overcome, we cheer each other. At Fermilab, we decided to hold a slumber party for scientists and local communities on the evening of September 10. This is extraordinary. Hundreds of locals showed up at 2 am and waited for the beam to circulate successfully at 4: 30 am local time. I walked around talking to the public and journalists, but they couldn't persuade the editor to send them to Europe and other scientists. The cheers of the audience were loud enough, and I think they could hear them at CERN, 4400 miles east.
Of course, the success of the morning of September 2008 10 was very important, but they just took a step towards the expected result, that is, starting the most powerful particle accelerator on earth. Therefore, it is necessary to test the full current of the 1232 giant magnet around the LHC. Therefore, CERN accelerator staff turned their attention to the completion of this work. This is the problem. On September 22nd, when a defective solder joint caused the copper bus to overheat, causing it to melt, and then an arc was generated, the operator was dismantling the last group of magnets, and then piercing the thermos bottle filled with liquid helium, so that the magnets could bear the current of 10000 amperes, thus making a powerful magnetic field possible. [Gallery: Looking for the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider]
After piercing, helium is released under high pressure ... forming a strong jet, which is enough to push the 35-ton magnet sideways 18 inch and pull the mounting bracket out of the solid concrete. The temperature of helium is MINUS 450 degrees Fahrenheit, which cools the tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider by one mile. It took more than a year to repair the damage and add additional fault protection equipment.
20 10 On February 27th, the accelerator staff of the Large Hadron Collider was ready to try again. Then, in about an hour and a half, they repeated the exercise and circulated the beam in the opposite direction again. This time, an attempt was made without informing the media. Until March of 19, the workers finally accelerated the beam to 3.5 times higher energy than the previous world record accelerator Fermi Te Vatron. I happened to be in CERN that day, and this achievement was completed before dawn. I watch the monitor with my colleagues. When the beam was declared stable, champagne, back slapping and cheers appeared again. This time, there is no TV camera.
From that day on, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was just a scientific phenomenon ... it sent out extraordinary beams to four detectors arranged around the ring. So far, scientific achievements have been great. Two large experiments published more than 800 papers respectively, and the whole research plan published more than 2,000 papers.
The most influential discovery in the past decade is the Higgs boson, which is the last missing part in the standard model of particle physics. It was announced to the global audience again on July 4, 20 12, covering more than 1000 TV stations, with an audience of1000 million. Once again, the world shared the excitement of discovery. [6] The significance of the discovery of Higgs boson particles]
The future of the Large Hadron Collider is indeed bright. Although it has been successfully operated for 10 years, our aim is to continue exploration with accelerators. At present, the plan will continue to be implemented for at least the next 20 years. In fact, it is estimated that by the end of 20 18, the experiment of the Large Hadron Collider will only collect 3% of the data recorded during the life of the facility. At the end of 20 18, the large hadron collider will be shut down for two years for upgrading. In the spring of 20021year, the operation will be resumed, and the detector will be greatly improved. We can't know what scientific truth will be discovered by using the Large Hadron Collider. This is doing science ... If we know what we will find, it is not called research. But there is no doubt that LHC is a pearl of wisdom and technology-an achievement that researchers in the past could not reach. The Large Hadron Collider can detect the smallest distance scale and the highest energy, and reproduce the last cosmic conditions in the universe, but the situation after the Big Bang is only one trillionth of a second. It is a tool for exploration and discovery. We're just getting started. It will be wonderful.
Happy birthday, Large Hadron Collider.
Originally published in the journal Life Science.
Don Lincoln is a physics researcher at Fermilab. He is the author of The Large Hadron Collider: The Extraordinary Story of the Higgs Boson and Other Things that Make Your Mind Hot (Johns Hopkins University Press, 20 14), and he has also produced a series of science education videos. Follow him to Facebook. The views expressed in this comment are his.
Don Lincoln contributed this article to The Voice of Experts in Life Sciences: Comments and Opinions. "