Large Hadron Collider to Restart Today
PrintHere we go again. Following a few technical glitches over the weekend that required a bit of maintenance, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is set to be turned back on today.
The world's largest particle accelerator began firing off the first proton beams of 2010 on Saturday, but it all had to be shut down so the maintenance crew could work out a few kinks in the cryogenic systems that help regulate the superconducting magnets, Cern said.
"Engineers had to access the filters for the cryogenic systems," a spokesperson for Cern said. "They are fixing that, and we expect the beams to be circulating again tonight."
Cern had previously stated it hopes to run the LHC for up to two years at 3.5 teraelectron volts (TeV) per beam, and then shut it down before ramping up to 7 TeV. Once everything restarts again today, it will take about 2 to 4 weeks before the beam energy reaches 3.5 TeVs.
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Keith E. Whisman
March 01, 2010 at 3:04pm
Isn't this how the gateway to hell is opened up in Doom or something like that? Oh well.. Looking pretty cool. Perhaps the worst thing that happens is Michael J. Fox goes back in time but I don't think CERN is using a Flex Capacitor.
BTW Can I have one of these please?
Caboose
March 01, 2010 at 9:36pm
Doom took place on Mars, and it's a Flux Capacitor.
Just so you're aware.
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
I Jedi
March 01, 2010 at 2:14pm
At long last I can finally play HL for real... I must admit, I have been craving for real adventure.
Caboose
March 01, 2010 at 2:37pm
I've got my crowbar ready!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
spoonard
March 01, 2010 at 2:09pm
Black holes, extra dimensional travel, worm holes, aliens... GO GO GO LHC!!!!
jcollins
March 01, 2010 at 1:20pm
I bet it's underwhelming. No visible beam, and probably not even an ominous hum.
Walnut
March 01, 2010 at 1:34pm
If it's anything like Fermilab in Illinois, there'll be plenty of humming. Then again, it's probably not. Fermi uses decades old tech. They don't let anyone in the main Tevatron ring, but they do tours of the Linac and every single piece of equipment in that lab wouldn't look an inch out of place on the bridge of the original USS Enterprise. There are plenty of things that buzz and whirr, too. The sheer size of some of this equipment is absolutely staggering. The ATLAS detector at CERN is over 80 feet tall, and weighs some 7000 metric tonnes. I don't think that would be underwhelming in the least.
Caboose
March 01, 2010 at 1:18pm
This is one of the coolest things! I wish I could see it in person some day!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
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