Make a hadron collider. The largest hadron collider on the planet is closed for modernization

You probably already know that scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) have discovered signs of the existence of the so-called “divine particle” - the Higgs boson. Let's see how it went.

On July 4, 2012, scientists from the European Center for Nuclear Research CERN in Switzerland discovered the Higgs boson - a subatomic particle called the "god particle". The search for the “divine” particle has been going on for almost 50 years. The Higgs boson was discovered during experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, the main accelerator rings of which are located in a 27-kilometer underground tunnel.

The Higgs boson is the most important element Standard model — physical theory, describing the interaction of all elementary particles: it explains the presence of such a phenomenon as mass.

Let's take a closer look at the fantastic machine, worth up to 6 billion dollars, which discovered the Higgs boson. Welcome to the world of subatomic particles!

In the photo: English theoretical physicist, member Royal Society Edinburgh Peter W. Higgs. It was he who predicted the existence of the Higgs boson, which is responsible for the mass of all elementary particles, in the 60s.

In his speeches, Peter stated that if the boson was not discovered, it would mean that he and many other physicists no longer understood how elementary particles interact. The Higgs particle is so important that American physicist, Nobel laureate Leon Lederman called it “the God particle.”

So, as already mentioned, the Higgs boson was discovered during experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. It was built in a research facility Center of the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, on the border of Switzerland and France. (Photo by Anja Niedringhaus | AP):

The Large Hadron Collider is the largest experimental facility in the world. This is a giant charged particle accelerator designed to accelerate protons and heavy ions. Let's see how it was created. In the photo: an underground tunnel is being laid in France and Switzerland with a circumference of almost 27 km, the year 2000. The depth of the tunnel is from 50 to 175 meters. (Photo by Laurent Guiraud | © 2012 CERN):

More than 10,000 scientists and engineers from more than 100 countries, including Russia, participated and are participating in construction and research. In the photo: installation of the end-face hadron calorimeter is underway. ATLAS detector, which is precisely intended to search for the Higgs boson and “non-standard physics”, in particular dark matter. In total, the Large Hadron Collider operates 4 main and 3 auxiliary detectors. August 12, 2003. (Photo by Maximilien Brice | © 2012 CERN):

The collider is named large because of its size: the length of the main accelerator ring is 26,659 meters. go around 27 km underground tunnel, designed to accommodate a ring accelerator, best in transport, October 24, 2005. (Photo by Laurent Guiraud | © 2012 CERN):

Electromagnetic calorimeter- a device that measures the energy of particles. When assembled, it is a wall more than 6 meters high and 7 meters wide. Consists of 3,300 blocks. (Photo by Maximilien Brice | © 2012 CERN):

The idea of building the Large Hadron Collider was born in 1984 and was officially approved ten years later. Its construction began in 2001. In the photo: the ring accelerator of the Large Hadron Collider, located in an underground tunnel directly under Geneva International Airport, May 31, 2007. (Photo by Keystone, Martial Trezzini | AP):

Main goal construction of the Large Hadron Collider was a refinement or refutation of the Standard Model - a theoretical construct in physics, the formation of which was completed in the 1960-1970s, describing elementary particles and three of the four fundamental interactions(except gravitational): strong, weak and electromagnetic. The main task The Large Hadron Collider was able to experimentally prove the existence of the Higgs boson. It was discovered on July 4, 2012.

This is part of ALICE- one of six experimental facilities built at the Large Hadron Collider. 3,584 lead tungstate crystals. ALICE is optimized for studying heavy ion collisions. (Photo by Maximilien Brice | © 2012 CERN):

The collider was officially launched on September 10, 2008. Data coming from the Large Hadron Collider is processed in 140 data centers located in 33 countries around the world. Every year we have to process 15 million gigabytes of data! In the photo: data center in Geneva, October 3, 2008. (Photo by Valentin Flauraud | Reuters):

ATLAS detector during assembly on November 11, 2005. The overall dimensions of the ATLAS detector are: length - 46 meters, diameter - 25 meters, total weight - about 7,000 tons. This detector is used to conduct an experiment of the same name, designed to search for superheavy elementary particles, including the newly discovered Higgs boson. (Photo by Maximilien Brice | © 2012 CERN):

Compact muon solenoid- one of two large universal detectors of elementary particles created at the European Center for Nuclear Research and designed to study the properties of the microworld. It is located in underground cave impressive dimensions: 53 meters long, 27 meters wide and 24 meters high. (Photo by Maximilien Brice | © 2012 CERN):

The 27-kilometer underground tunnel contains two pipes that run parallel and intersect only at the detector locations.

In the photo: linear low-energy particle accelerator Linac2 located in an underground tunnel. In total, the Large Hadron Collider has six main accelerators. (Photo by Keystone, Martial Trezzin | AP):

In 2009, the cost of the Large Hadron Collider was estimated at between 3.2 and 6.4 billion euros, making it the most expensive scientific experiment in human history.

There have been many rumors surrounding the Large Hadron Collider. For example, that it poses a huge danger to humanity, and its launch could bring about the end of the world. The reason was statements by scientists that as a result of particle collisions in the collider, microscopic black holes could supposedly form: after this, opinions arose that our entire Earth could be “sucked” into them.

There have also been concerns that the discovery of the Higgs boson will cause uncontrolled growth of mass in the Universe. There was even a joke: “Physicists have a tradition of getting together once every 14 billion years and launching a hadron collider.” The reason for the rumors turned out to be banal: the words of scientists were distorted and misinterpreted by journalists. (Photo by Michael Hoch | © 2012 CERN):

Even more. After the end of its operation in 2012, the collider will be closed for long-term repairs. The repairs are expected to last at least a year and a half and will take all of 2013. Some scientists from the USA and Japan propose, after finishing work on the Large Hadron Collider, to begin work on a new Very Large Hadron Collider.

In the photo: eight pipes are magnets surrounding the calorimeter. This entire huge structure is part of one of the particle detectors of the Large Hadron Collider. (Photo by Maximilien Brice | © 2012 CERN):

According to scientists, the discovered Higgs boson can shed light on the origin of the Universe and understand what the Universe was like in the first moments after the Big Bang. (Photo CERN | AP):

Natalia Demina visited the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the eve of its 60th anniversary. She is confident that after modernization, the Large Hadron Collider will be ready for new discoveries.

I never rode a bicycle through the Large Hadron Collider tunnel. Although two dozen bicycles, hanging on a special rack or leaning against the wall, were clearly waiting for those interested. We were just downstairs when suddenly a siren sounded. Our group was immediately hurried to the elevator, which took us to the surface, 90 meters up. “If a fire starts in the tunnel, everything will be filled with special foam in which you can breathe.”, - the cheerful accompanying person reassured us Afro-Swiss Abdillah Abal. “Have you tried breathing in it?”- I asked. "No!"- he answered, and everyone laughed.

To the building where the experiment is taking place ALICE, a few minutes later the fire brigade arrived. The search for the cause of the alarm continued for about an hour - it turned out that the oxygen level sensor in the tunnel had tripped, but we were no longer allowed to go down.

Myself CERN looks like a city, at the entrance you will be greeted by a barrier with a guard who will check your pass or reservation at a local hostel hotel. “It was easier before, say the old-timers. — All this appeared only after several unpleasant incidents, including with the green ones". What other incidents? CERN is open to the world, every day on its territory and in museum (“Sphere of Science and Innovation”) Schoolchildren, students and teachers come on excursions and are told about the past, present and future of one of the best physical centers in the world. CERN seems to have everything: a post office, a delicious inexpensive self-service restaurant, a bank, Japanese sakura, and Russian birch trees. Almost paradise - both for employees and for visitors. But there is also some Not large number people who need “incidents” like air, and need to be able to somehow intelligently resist this.

The 27-kilometer ring itself is located at a depth of 50-150 m on the territory of both France and Switzerland. From the center of Geneva to CERN you can take a regular city tram in just 20-30 minutes. The border between the two countries is almost invisible, and so far they have not told me: "Look, here is the border", I wouldn't have noticed her. Cars and pedestrians drive without stopping. I myself walked back and forth, from the hotel to CERN, laughing to myself that I was going from France to Switzerland for dinner.

Before arriving at CERN, I did not know about the role played in the construction of the collider by the Russian defense industry, which remained from the times of the USSR. Thus, for the hadron end calorimeter of the CMS detector, it was necessary to make a large volume of special plates from brass. Where can I get brass? It turned out that in the North, at our naval enterprises, a lot of spent cartridges had accumulated, so they were melted down.

“At one time, when the Americans threatened the USSR with “star wars,” Academician Velikhov proposed placing laser weapons in orbit. Lasers required special crystals, - Vladimir Gavrilov, head of the CMS experiment from the Institute of Theoretical and experimental physics(ITEP). — Several factories were built for this project. But then it all collapsed, the factories had nothing to do. It turned out that the plant in Bogoroditsk Tula region can make crystals that are needed for CMS".

ATLAS AND CMS EXPERIMENTS

There are four large experiments taking place at the Large Hadron Collider ( ATLAS, CMS, ALICE And LHCb) and three small ( LHCf, MoEDAL And TOTEM). The data flow from the four large experiments amounts to 15 petabytes (15 million GB) per year, which would require a 20-kilometer stack of CDs to record. The honor of discovering the Higgs boson belongs jointly to ATLAS and CMS, there are many scientists from Russia in these collaborations. In just 60 years, more than a thousand have worked at CERN Russian specialists. The ATLAS detector is nothing short of amazing: 35 m high, 33 m wide and almost 50 m long. Nikolay Zimin, employee of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and this experiment, who worked at CERN for many years, compared the detector to a giant nesting doll. "Each of upper layers detectors surrounds the previous one, trying to cover the solid angle as much as possible. Ideally, you need to make sure that all escaping particles can be caught and that “dead zones” in the detector are minimized.”, he emphasizes. Each of the detector subsystems, “detector layers,” registers certain particles produced during the collision of proton beams.

How many “matryoshka dolls” are there in a large “matryoshka detector”? Four large subsystems, including the muon and calorimeter systems. As a result, the emitted particle crosses about 50 “registration layers” of the detector, each of which collects this or that information. Scientists determine the trajectory of these particles in space, their charges, speeds, mass and energy.

Proton beams collide only in those places that are surrounded by detectors; in other places of the collider they fly through parallel tubes.

The beams accelerated and launched into the Large Hadron Collider spin for 10 hours, during which time they travel a distance of 10 billion km, which is enough to travel to Neptune and back. Protons traveling at almost the speed of light make 11,245 revolutions per second along the 27-kilometer ring!

Protons leaving the injector are passed through a cascade of accelerators until they reach big ring. “CERN, unlike Russian centers, managed to use each accelerator, record-breaking for its time, as a pre-accelerator for the next one”, notes Nikolay Zimin. It all started with Proton Synchrotron (PS, 1959), then there was Superproton Synchrotron (SPS, 1976), Then Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP, 1989). Then LEP was cut out of the tunnel to save money, and the Large Hadron Collider was built in its place. “Then the LHC will be cut out, a super LHC will be built, there are already such ideas. Or maybe they’ll immediately start building FCC (Future Circular Colliders), and a 100-kilometer 50 TeV collider will appear.”, - continues his story Zimin.

“Why is everything here so well organized from a security point of view? Because there are many dangers below. Firstly, the dungeon itself is 100 meters deep. Secondly, there is a lot of cryogenic technology there; ATLAS works with two magnetic fields. One of them is formed by a central superconducting solenoid, which must be cooled. Secondly, the largest magnetic toroids in the world. These are 25-meter donuts in one direction and 6-meter ones in the other. Each of them circulates a current of 20 kA. And they also need to be cooled with liquid helium. Stored Energy magnetic field We have 1.6 GJ, so if something happens, the consequences of destroying the detector could be catastrophic. In the beam chamber of the detector high vacuum, and if it is violated, an explosion may result", - speaks Nikolay Zimin.

“Here is one of the emptiest (in terms of vacuum) places in solar system and one of the coldest in the Universe: 1.9 K (-271.3 °C). At the same time, one of the hottest places in the Galaxy.", - this is what they like to say at CERN, and all this is not an exaggeration. The LHC has the largest cooling system in the world, necessary to maintain the 27-kilometer ring in a state of superconductivity. In the tubes through which the proton beams fly, an ultra-high vacuum of 10-12 atmospheres is created to avoid collisions with gas molecules.

REPUBLICS OF COLLABORATIONS

Work at the Large Hadron Collider takes place in conditions of constant scientific competition between collaborations. But The Higgs boson was discovered simultaneously by both the ATLAS group and the CMS group. Vladimir Gavrilov (CMS) highlights the importance of two independent collaborations working on this task simultaneously. “The announcement that the Higgs boson had been found came only after both collaborations produced results that were completely in different ways, but indicating approximately the same parameters with an accuracy possible for two detectors. Now this accuracy is increasing, and the agreement between the results is even better.". “CERN and collaborations are two different things. CERN is a laboratory, it gives you an accelerator, and collaborations are individual states scientists with their own constitution, their own finances, management. And the people who work on the detectors are 90% not CERN employees, but employees of institutes, their work is paid for by the participating states and institutes, and CERN is included in the collaboration on the same basis as other institutes.”, explains Oleg Fedin from the St. Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics.

THE FUTURE OF THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER

Already the collider has not been working for a year and a half, engineers and technicians check and replace equipment. “We are going to launch the first beams in January 2015. When the first ones arrive interesting results, I don't know. The energy of the collider will be almost doubled - from 7 to 13 TeV - this is, in fact, a new machine.", told us CERN Director General Rolf-Dieter Heuer.

What does Rolf Heuer expect from the launch of the LHC after modernization? “My dream is that here at the LHC we will be able to find traces of dark matter particles. It will be wonderful. But this is just a dream! I can't guarantee we'll find it. And, of course, we can discover some new things. On the one hand, there is the Standard Model - it describes the world amazingly well. But it doesn't explain anything. Too many parameters entered manually. The standard model is fantastic. But beyond the Standard Model there is even greater fantasy.”.

On the eve of CERN's 60th anniversary Rolf Heuer notes that all these years the scientific center lived under the motto: “60 years of science for the world.” According to him, “CERN didn’t exactly ignore, but tried to stay as far as possible from any political issues. Since the founding of CERN, when there was a division between West and East, representatives from both sides could work here together. Today we have scientists from Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan... We try to stay out of politics, we try to work as representatives of humanity, as normal people.”.

This article uses the LHC The guide brochure. Electronic version - on the website

Just a few years ago, I had no idea what hadron colliders were, the Higgs Boson, and why thousands of scientists around the world were working on a huge physics campus on the border of Switzerland and France, burying billions of dollars in the ground.
Then, for me, like many other inhabitants of the planet, the expression Large Hadron Collider, the knowledge about elementary particles colliding in it at the speed of light and about one of greatest discoveries most recently - the Higgs boson.

And so, in mid-June, I had the opportunity to see with my own eyes what so many people are talking about and what there are so many conflicting rumors about.
This was not just a short excursion, but a full day spent at the world's largest nuclear physics laboratory - Cern. Here we were able to communicate with the physicists themselves, and see a lot of interesting things in this scientific campus, and go down to the holy of holies - the Large Hadron Collider (but when it is launched and tests are being carried out in it, any access from the outside to it is impossible) , visit the factory for the production of giant magnets for the collider, the Atlas center, where scientists analyze data obtained at the collider, secretly visit the newest linear collider under construction, and even, almost like in a quest, practically walk through thorny path elementary particle, from end to beginning. And see where it all begins...
But about all this in separate posts. Today it's just the Large Hadron Collider.
If this can be called simply, my brain refuses to understand HOW such a thing could be first invented and then built.

2. Many years ago this picture became world famous. Many believe that this is the Large Hadron in section. In fact, this is a cross-section of one of the largest detectors - CMS. Its diameter is about 15 meters. This is not the largest detector. The diameter of Atlas is about 22 meters.

3. To roughly understand what it is and how big the collider is, let’s look at the satellite map.
This is a suburb of Geneva, very close to Lake Geneva. This is where the huge CERN campus is based, which I will talk about separately a little later, and there are a bunch of colliders located underground at various depths. Yes, yes. He's not alone. There are ten of them. The Large Hadron simply crowns this structure, figuratively speaking, completing the chain of colliders through which elementary particles are accelerated. I will also talk about this separately, going along with the particle from the Large (LHC) to the very first, linear Linac.
The diameter of the LHC ring is almost 27 kilometers and it lies at a depth of just over 100 meters (the largest ring in the picture).
The LHC has four detectors - Alice, Atlas, LHCb and CMS. We went down to the CMS detector.

4. In addition to these four detectors, the rest of the underground space is a tunnel in which there is a continuous gut of blue segments like these. These are magnets. Giant magnets in which a crazy magnetic field is created, in which elementary particles move at the speed of light.
There are 1734 of them in total.

5. Inside the magnet looks like this complex structure. There is a lot of everything here, but the most important thing is two hollow tubes inside in which proton beams fly.
In four places (in those same detectors) these tubes intersect and proton beams collide. In those places where they collide, protons scatter into various particles, which are detected by detectors.
This is to briefly talk about what this nonsense is and how it works.

6. So, June 14, morning, CERN. We arrive at an inconspicuous fence with a gate and a small building on the territory.
This is the entrance to one of the four detectors of the Large Hadron Collider - CMS.
Here I want to stop a little to talk about how we managed to get here in the first place and thanks to whom.
And it’s all “to blame” for Andrey, our man who works at CERN, and thanks to whom our visit was not some short boring excursion, but incredibly interesting and filled with a huge amount of information.
Andrey (he in the green T-shirt) never minds guests and is always happy to facilitate a visit to this Mecca of nuclear physics.
You know what's interesting? This is the throughput mode in the Collider and at CERN in general.
Yes, everything is using a magnetic card, but... an employee with his pass has access to 95% of the territory and facilities.
And only those where increased level radiation hazard, you need special access - this is inside the collider itself.
And so, employees move around the territory without any problems.
For a moment, billions of dollars and a lot of the most incredible equipment have been invested here.
And then I remember some abandoned objects in Crimea, where everything has long been cut out, but, nevertheless, everything is mega-secret, under no circumstances can you be filmed, and the object is who knows what strategic.
It’s just that people here think adequately with their heads.

7. This is what the CMS territory looks like. No show-off exterior decorations or super-cars in the parking lot. But they can afford it. There's just no need.

8. CERN, as the world's leading scientific center in the field of physics, uses several various directions in terms of PR. One of them is the so-called “Tree”.
Within its framework, we invite school teachers in physics from different countries and cities. They are shown and told here. Then the teachers return to their schools and tell their students about what they saw. A certain number of students, inspired by the story, begin to study physics with great interest, then go to universities to major in physics, and in the future, perhaps even end up working here.
But while the children are still in school, they also have the opportunity to visit CERN and, of course, go down to the Large Hadron Collider.
Several times a month special “days” are held here open doors"for gifted children from different countries who are in love with physics.
They are selected by the very teachers who were at the core of this tree and submit proposals to the CERN office in Switzerland.
Coincidentally, on the day we came to see the Large Hadron Collider, one of these groups from Ukraine came here - children, students of the Small Academy of Sciences, who had passed a difficult competition. Together with them, we descended to a depth of 100 meters, into the very heart of the Collider.

9. Glory with our badges.
Mandatory items for physicists working here are a helmet with a flashlight and boots with a metal plate on the toe (to protect their toes when a load falls)

10. Gifted children who are passionate about physics. In a few minutes their places will come true - they will descend into the Large Hadron Collider

11. Workers play dominoes while relaxing before their next shift underground.

12. Control and management center CMS. Primary data from the main sensors characterizing the functioning of the system flows here.
When the collider is operating, a team of 8 people works here around the clock.

13. It must be said that in present moment The Large Hadron has been shut down for two years to carry out a repair and modernization program for the collider.
The fact is that 4 years ago there was an accident on it, after which the collider never worked. full power(I will talk about the accident in the next post).
After modernization, which will be completed in 2014, it should operate at even greater power.
If the collider were working now, we would definitely not be able to visit it

14. Using a special technical elevator, we descend to a depth of more than 100 meters, where the Collider is located.
The elevator is the only means of rescuing personnel in the event of emergency, because there are no stairs here. That is, this is the most safe place in CMS.
According to the instructions, in the event of an alarm, all personnel must immediately go to the elevator.
Excessive pressure is created here so that in case of smoke the smoke does not get inside and people do not get poisoned.

15. Boris is worried about there being no smoke.

16. At depth. Everything here is permeated with communications.

17. Endless kilometers of wires and cables for data transmission

18. There are a huge number of pipes here. So-called cryogenics. The fact is that helium is used inside the magnets for cooling. Cooling of other systems, as well as hydraulics, is also necessary.

19. In the data processing rooms located in the detector there is huge number servers.
They are combined into so-called incredible performance triggers.
For example, the first trigger in 3 milliseconds from 40,000,000 events should select about 400 and transfer them to the second trigger - the highest level.

20. Fiber optic madness.
Computer rooms are located above the detector, because There is a very small magnetic field here, which does not interfere with the operation of electronics.
It would not be possible to collect data in the detector itself.

21. Global trigger. It consists of 200 computers

22. What kind of Apple is there? Dell!!!

23. Server cabinets are securely locked

24. A funny drawing on one of the operators’ workplaces.

25. At the end of 2012, the Higgs Boson was discovered as a result of an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, and this event was widely celebrated by CERN workers.
The champagne bottles were not thrown away after the celebration on purpose, believing that this was only the beginning of great things

26. On the approach to the detector itself there are signs everywhere warning about radiation hazards

26. All Collider employees have personal dosimeters, which they are required to bring to the reading device and record their location.
The dosimeter accumulates the radiation level and, if it approaches the limit dose, informs the employee, and also transmits data online to the control station, warning that there is a person near the collider who is in danger

27. Right in front of the detector is a top-level access system.
You can log in by attaching a personal card, a dosimeter and undergoing a retinal scan

28. What I do

29. And here it is - the detector. The small sting inside is something similar to a drill chuck, which houses those huge magnets that would now seem very small. At the moment there are no magnets, because... undergoing modernization

30. In working condition, the detector is connected and looks like a single unit

31. The weight of the detector is 15 thousand tons. An incredible magnetic field is created here.

32. Compare the size of the detector with the people and equipment working below

33. Cables blue- power, red - data

34. Interestingly, during operation, the Big Hadron consumes 180 megawatts of electricity per hour.

35. Routine maintenance work on sensors

36. Numerous sensors

37. And power to them... fiber optic comes back

38. The look of an incredibly smart person.

39. An hour and a half under the ground flies by like five minutes... Having risen back to the mortal earth, you involuntarily wonder... HOW this can be done.
AND WHY do they do this….

I will continue my story about visiting the open day at CERN.

Part 3. Computer center.

In this part, I will talk about the place where what is the product of CERN's work is stored and processed - the results of experiments. We will talk about a computer center, although it would probably be more correct to call it a data center. But first I will touch a little on the issues of computing and data storage at CERN. Every year, the Large Hadron Collider alone produces so much data that if it were burned onto a CD, it would be a stack 20 kilometers high. This is because the collider collides 30 million times per second and each collision produces about 20 events, each producing a large amount of information in the detector. Of course, this information is first processed in the detector itself, then goes to the local computing center, and only then is transmitted to the main data storage and processing center. However, it is necessary to process approximately petabytes of data every day. To this we must add that this data must not only be stored but also distributed between research centers around the world, and in addition, support approximately 4,000 WiFi network users at CERN itself. It should be added that there is an auxiliary data storage and processing center in Hungary, with which there is a 100 gigabit link. At the same time, 35,000 kilometers of optical cable are laid inside CERN.
However, the computer center was not always so powerful. The photograph shows how the equipment used has changed over time.

Now there has been a transition from mainframes to a grid of regular PCs. Currently, the center has 90,000 processor cores in 10,000 servers that operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. On average, 250,000 data processing jobs are running simultaneously on this grid. This data center is at its peak modern technologies and, often, moves computing and IT forward to solve the problems required to store and process such large volumes data. Suffice it to mention that in a building located near the computer center, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (tell that to those alternatively gifted idiots who, while surfing the Internet, say that basic science does not bring any benefit).

However, let's return to the problem of data storage. The photo shows that in antediluvian times, data was previously stored on magnetic disks (Yes, yes, I remember these 29 megabyte disks on the EU computer).

To see how things are today, I go to the building where the computer center is located.

Surprisingly, there are not very many people there and I get inside quite quickly. They show us a short film and then lead us to a locked door. Our guide opens the door and we find ourselves in quite great hall, where there are cabinets with magnetic tapes on which information is recorded.

Most of the room is occupied by these very cabinets.

They store about 100 petabytes of information (equivalent to 700 years of Full HD video) in 480 million files. Interestingly, approximately 10,000 physicists around the world in 160 computing centers have access to this information. This information contains all experimental data since the 70s of the last century. If you look closely, you can see how these magnetic tapes are located inside the cabinets.

Some racks contain processor modules.

On the table is a small display of what is used for data storage.

This data center consumes 3.5 megawatts electrical energy and has its own diesel generator in case of power outage. It should also be said about the cooling system. It is located outside the building and drives cold air under the false floor. Water cooling is used only on a small number of servers.

If you look inside the cabinet, you can see how automatic sampling and loading of magnetic tapes occurs.

Actually, this hall is not the only hall where the computer technology, but the fact that visitors were at least allowed here already evokes respect for the organizers. I took a photo of what was on display on the table.

After this, another group of visitors appeared and we were asked to leave. I do last photo and leave the computer center.

In the next part, I will talk about the workshops where unique equipment is created and assembled, which is used in physical experiments.

Many ordinary people planets are asking themselves what the Large Hadron Collider is for. Incomprehensible to most scientific research, on which many billions of euros have been spent, cause caution and concern.

Maybe this is not research at all, but a prototype of a time machine or a portal for the teleportation of alien creatures that can change the fate of humanity? The most fantastic and terrible rumors are circulating. In this article we will try to understand what a hadron collider is and why it was created.

An ambitious project for humanity

The Large Hadron Collider is currently the most powerful particle accelerator on the planet. It is located on the border of Switzerland and France. More precisely, underneath it: at a depth of 100 meters lies a ring tunnel of the accelerator almost 27 kilometers long. The owner of the experimental site, worth more than 10 billion dollars, is the European Center for Nuclear Research.

Huge amounts of resources and thousands of nuclear physicists are busy accelerating protons and heavy lead ions to near light speeds in different directions and then smashing them into each other. The results of direct interactions are carefully studied.

The proposal to create a new particle accelerator came back in 1984. For ten years there have been various discussions about what a hadron collider will be like, why such a large-scale one is needed research project. Only after discussing issues of features technical solution and the required installation parameters, the project was approved. Construction began only in 2001, using the former particle accelerator - the Large Electron-Positron Collider - to house it.

Why do we need a Large Hadron Collider?

The interaction of elementary particles is described in different ways. The theory of relativity conflicts with quantum theory fields. The missing link in gaining common approach to the structure of elementary particles is the impossibility of creating a theory quantum gravity. This is why a high-power hadron collider is needed.

The total energy of particle collisions is 14 teraelectronvolts, making the device a significantly more powerful accelerator than any existing in the world today. Having carried out experiments previously impossible with technical reasons, scientists from a large share probabilities can be documented to confirm or refute existing theories microworld.

Studying the quark-gluon plasma formed during the collision of lead nuclei will allow us to build a more advanced theory strong interactions, which can radically change nuclear physics and stellar space.

Higgs boson

Back in 1960, Scottish physicist Peter Higgs developed the Higgs field theory, according to which particles entering this field are subject to quantum effects, which in the physical world can be observed as the mass of an object.

If during the experiments it is possible to confirm the theory of the Scottish nuclear physicist and find the Higgs boson (quantum), then this event could become a new starting point for the development of the inhabitants of the Earth.

And the revealed gravity controllers will many times exceed all visible development prospects technical progress. Moreover, advanced scientists are more interested not in the presence of the Higgs boson itself, but in the process of breaking electroweak symmetry.

How does it work

In order for experimental particles to reach a speed unthinkable for the surface, almost equal in vacuum, they are accelerated gradually, each time increasing the energy.

Linear accelerators first inject lead ions and protons, which are then subjected to stepwise acceleration. The particles enter the proton synchrotron through the booster, where they receive a charge of 28 GeV.

At the next stage, the particles enter the super-synchrotron, where their charge energy is increased to 450 GeV. Having reached such indicators, the particles fall into the main multi-kilometer ring, where at specially located collision sites, detectors record in detail the moment of impact.

In addition to detectors capable of recording all processes during a collision, 1625 superconducting magnets are used to hold proton bunches in the accelerator. Their total length exceeds 22 kilometers. Specially designed to achieve a temperature of −271 °C. The cost of each such magnet is estimated at one million euros.

End justifies the means

To carry out such ambitious experiments, the most powerful hadron collider was built. Why do you need a multi-billion dollar science project, many scientists tell humanity with undisguised delight. True, in the case of new scientific discoveries, most likely, they will be highly classified.

You can even say for sure. This is confirmed by the entire history of civilization. When the wheel was invented, humanity mastered metallurgy - hello, guns and rifles!

All the most modern developments are now becoming available military-industrial complexes developed countries, but not all of humanity. When scientists learned to split the atom, what came first? Nuclear reactors, providing electricity, however, after hundreds of thousands of deaths in Japan. The residents of Hiroshima were definitely against it scientific progress, which took away tomorrow from them and their children.

Technical development looks like a mockery of people, because man in it will soon turn into the most weak link. According to the theory of evolution, the system develops and grows stronger, getting rid of weak points. It may soon turn out that we will have no place left in the world of improving technology. Therefore, the question “why is the Large Hadron Collider needed right now” is in fact not idle curiosity, because it is caused by fear for the fate of all humanity.

Questions that are not answered

Why do we need a large hadron collider if millions on the planet are dying from hunger and incurable, and sometimes treatable, diseases? Will he help overcome this evil? Why does humanity need a hadron collider, which, despite all the development of technology, has not been able to learn how to successfully deal with cancer diseases? Or maybe it’s simply more profitable to provide expensive medical services than to find a way to heal? Under the existing world order and ethical development only a handful of representatives human race A large hadron collider is greatly needed. Why does the entire population of the planet need it, waging a non-stop battle for the right to live in a world free from attacks on anyone’s life and health? History is silent about this...

Concerns of scientific colleagues

There are other representatives of the scientific community who have expressed serious concerns about the safety of the project. There is a high probability that scientific world in his experiments, due to his limited knowledge, he may lose control over processes that have not even been properly studied.

This approach is reminiscent of laboratory experiments of young chemists - mix everything and see what happens. Last example could end in an explosion in the laboratory. What if such a “success” befalls the hadron collider?

Why do earthlings need an unjustified risk, especially since experimenters cannot say with complete confidence that the processes of particle collisions leading to the formation of temperatures exceeding 100 thousand times the temperature of our star will not cause chain reaction of all the matter on the planet?! Or they will simply call something capable of fatally ruining a vacation in the mountains of Switzerland or the French Riviera...

Information dictatorship

Why is the Large Hadron Collider needed when humanity cannot solve less complex tasks? Attempt at silencing alternative opinion only confirms the possibility of unpredictability of the course of events.

Probably, where man first appeared, this dual feature was inherent in him - to do good and harm himself at the same time. Perhaps the discoveries that the hadron collider will give us will give us the answer? Why this risky experiment was needed will be decided by our descendants.