Proton beams circulate again in science's Big Bang machine
Source: Agencies |
November 22, 2009, Sunday
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Print Edition
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SCIENTISTS have switched on the world's largest atom smasher for the first time since the US$10 billion machine suffered a spectacular failure more than a year ago, circulating beams of protons in a significant leap forward for the Large Hadron Collider.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research has taken the restart of the collider step by step to avoid further setbacks as it moves toward new scientific experiments -- probably starting in January -- regarding the make-up of matter and the universe.
It has undergone a year of repairs after it was heavily damaged by a simple electrical fault.
Progress on restarting the machine, on the border between Switzerland and France, went faster than expected on Friday night and the first beam circulated in a clockwise direction around the machine about 10pm, said James Gillies of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
"Some of the scientists had gone home and had to be called back in," Gillies said.
The exact start time of the Large Hadron Collider was difficult to predict because it was based on how long it took to perform steps along the way. In the end, it happened about nine hours earlier than expected, Gillies said.
It was an important milestone on the road toward scientific discoveries at the LHC which are expected in 2010, he said.
About two hours later, scientists circulated another beam in the opposite direction, which was the initial goal in getting the machine going again and moving it toward collisions of protons, CERN said.
The LHC also will be used later for colliding lead ions -- basically the nucleus of the element that is about 160 times as heavy as a single proton. That should reveal still more scientific secrets.
"It's great to see beams circulating in the LHC again," said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. "We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way."
CERN circulated its first beams in September last year. But the machine was sidetracked nine days later when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated and set off a chain of damage to massive super-conducting magnets and other parts of the collider in a 27-kilometer circular tunnel.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research has taken the restart of the collider step by step to avoid further setbacks as it moves toward new scientific experiments -- probably starting in January -- regarding the make-up of matter and the universe.
It has undergone a year of repairs after it was heavily damaged by a simple electrical fault.
Progress on restarting the machine, on the border between Switzerland and France, went faster than expected on Friday night and the first beam circulated in a clockwise direction around the machine about 10pm, said James Gillies of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
"Some of the scientists had gone home and had to be called back in," Gillies said.
The exact start time of the Large Hadron Collider was difficult to predict because it was based on how long it took to perform steps along the way. In the end, it happened about nine hours earlier than expected, Gillies said.
It was an important milestone on the road toward scientific discoveries at the LHC which are expected in 2010, he said.
About two hours later, scientists circulated another beam in the opposite direction, which was the initial goal in getting the machine going again and moving it toward collisions of protons, CERN said.
The LHC also will be used later for colliding lead ions -- basically the nucleus of the element that is about 160 times as heavy as a single proton. That should reveal still more scientific secrets.
"It's great to see beams circulating in the LHC again," said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. "We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way."
CERN circulated its first beams in September last year. But the machine was sidetracked nine days later when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated and set off a chain of damage to massive super-conducting magnets and other parts of the collider in a 27-kilometer circular tunnel.
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