The “proton smasher “which costs 1 Billion dollars a year just for maintenance is about to begin its next phase of experiments. After 2 years of repairs and upgrades the machine is back in use.
Costing 13.25 billion only until November 2009, the complex equipment will now start delivering data, testing has already begun using a much greater energy input (13 Tera-Electronvolts) than ever before, thanks to its new upgrades.
Wednesday the main test will begin, and with the speed increased as a result of upgrades new data will be acquired.
This speed of collision is almost twice as fast as the first test phase. Two beams of proton particles will be guided around the 27 Km ring, they will collide along previously assigned locations. At each designated position, mammoth sensors will seize all information resulted from the particles crash.
This Information will then be thoughtfully assessed, analyzed and compiled by engineers and other researchers. Statistics resulting from the collision will be used to identify new sub-atomic particles or prove the existence of theoretical ones.
On July 4’Th 2012 the Hadron Collider experiments, namely ATLAS and CMS recorded data that proves the Standard Model is a veritable theory. The data recorded showed the existence of a particle consistent with the Higgs-Boson, a predicted elementary particle that could explain modern particle theory mechanisms.
The 40 years of theoretical and experimental research leading to the Hadron Collider had finally produced evidence of the Higgs Field.
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Francois Englert and Peter Higgs for their theoretical work on the field of subatomic particles and their origin. The prize was awarded, as a result of the discoveries made by CERN that proved Englert and Higgs’s theories.
Scientists hope to increase the amount of testing, collecting information that can allow them to break new ground and thus create new physics’ paradigms, which go beyond the Standard Model.
Looking for indirect evidence, and studying possible pattern changes, scientist hope to find evidence of dark matter. Through a process called “missing traverse energy” observable before and after particle collision, signs at a subatomic level might become observable.
Upgrades for the Hadron Collider included re-soldering thousands of connections between the magnets as a result of “flaws” being discovered in the first experimental trials.
Image Source: theguardian.com