CERN sets first particle collision date

William Atkins
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 22:57

Science - Energy

Officials at CERN have announced the date in which the beginning of the physics program will begin at the Large Hadron Collider. In other words, the first collisions of two oppositely-directed particle beams with energies of 3.5 TeV per beam will be attempted, for a combined energy of 7 tera-electron volts (TeV).

 

 

The highest energy level ever attempted by a particle accelerator, in which particle beams will collide, has been announced to begin on March 30, 2010. An energy level of 7 TeV will be attempted beginning on that day.

The March 23, 2010 CERN press release 'CERN sets date for first attempt at 7 TeV collisions in the LHC,' quotes Steve Myers, the CERN director for Accelerators and Technology.

Myers states, 'With two beams at 3.5 TeV, we're on the verge of launching the LHC physics programme,'But we've still got a lot of work to do before collisions. Just lining the beams up is a challenge in itself: it's a bit like firing needles across the Atlantic and getting them to collide half way.'

The LHC just set the world's record on March 19, 2010 when it successfully circulated two proton beams at energies of 3.5 TeV each. The beams were only circulated at that time, and not collided.

For more information, check out the iTWire article 'Large Hadron Collider goes 3.5 TeV: New world record.'

The article states in part: ''¦ the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) achieved the highest energy ever achieved in a particle accelerator when, at 5:20 a.m. local Geneva, Switzerland time [on March 19, 2010], it successfully circulated two 3.5 TeV proton beams.'

Page two continues with more information about the activities surrounding the March 30th date.