Science
Related: About this forumAtom smasher hiatus sets stage for more discovery
The world's largest and most powerful atom smasher goes into a 2-year hibernation in March, as engineers carry out a revamp to help it reach maximum energy levels that could lead to more stunning discoveries following the detection of the so-called "God particle."
With the reopening of its $10 billion proton collider in early 2015, the stage will be set for observing more rare phenomena and unlocking more mysteries, said James Gillies, chief spokesman for the European particle physics laboratory known as CERN.
The Large Hadron Collider under the Swiss-French border will operate for two more months then shut down through 2014, allowing engineers to lay thousands more superconducting cables aimed at bringing the machine up to "full design energy," Gillies told The Associated Press on Friday.
Physicists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, known by its French acronym CERN, won't exactly be idle as the collider takes a break. There are still reams more data to sift through since the July discovery of a new subatomic particle called the Higgs boson dubbed the "God particle which promises a new realm of understanding of the universe.
More at: http://news.yahoo.com/atom-smasher-hiatus-sets-stage-more-discovery-134311023.html
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)knitter4democracy
(14,350 posts)If all goes well, they'll get to build FRIB, which will be the kind of facility we need to really study what happens in supernovae.
fascisthunter
(29,381 posts)The evolution of stars blows me away. I honestly believe that the Big Bang was the product of another super massive blackhole from another dimension.