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Large Hadron Collider accelerates proton beams at 3.5 TeV
by Ishita Sood - March 20, 2010 - comments
Called as “one of the great engineering milestones of mankind,” the LHC holds answers to the Big Bang theory, which is the key to the origin of universe.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) on Saturday reported that its Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerated proton beams at 3.5 teraelectronvolts (TeV), the top speed for any atom smasher machine ever.
“Getting the beams to 3.5 TeV is testimony to the soundness of the LHC's overall design, and the improvements we've made since the breakdown in September 2008. And it's a great credit to the patience and dedication of the LHC team,” said Steve Myers, CERN's director for Accelerators and Technology.
In November 2009, the collider had set record of accelerating two protons at a speed of 1.18 TeV. The LHC is a 27-kilometer-long underground tunnel.
Remarkable achievement by CERN
Located in Geneva, Switzerland, CERN’s spokesperson James Gilles said that if the LHC can collide particles at 7-TeV, it could continuously run for 18 to 24 months.
“We're all hoping [the collision] will happen in the next couple of weeks. If things continue carrying on the way they've been, that's a pretty safe estimate. We haven't fully recovered from the problems we had in September 2008.
“There's still work to be done on the machine before we can move to higher energy. And there's routine maintenance—there always is with these machines,” he added.
Other scientists feel that at 7-TeV, the LHC will discover subatomic particles and newer dimensions like the Higgs boson or God particle.
“That's a big deal for us, to find top quarks. They're popping out of the Tevatron [particle accelerator at Fermilab in Illinois] all the time, but we haven't found them yet with the LHC,” said Gilles.
CERN director Rolf Heuer talked of the great achievement and said it was “remarkable.”
“We must not lose sight of the fact that the LHC is new, and it wasn't bought off the shelf. It is a state of the art prototype that is pushing the limits of technology across a wide range of disciplines, and as such it needs to be treated with the greatest respect. It takes time, but as we've seen this week, patience pays dividends,” he said.
About the LHC
The LHC, started in September 2008, came with a high price tag. Only the repair costs of the machine come to about $21 million.
Called as “one of the great engineering milestones of mankind,” the LHC holds answers to the Big Bang theory, which is the key to the origin of universe.
CERN started its construction in the late 1980s. The organization said on Saturday that its next major step will be to collide beams that have individually accelerated to 3.5 TeV level.