LHC High Energy Physics Start

Posted on 31/03/2010 by Jon Butterworth

See also Chapter 3.1 of Smashing Physics.

So, the LHC breaks new ground again. Not just in fundamental physics and accelerator technology, but in doing science live in public, or at least so it feels.

We had hoped for collisions for breakfast but it didn’t work out that way. The false starts reminded me of frustrating night-shifts on the ZEUS experiment in Hamburg where I did my PhD. They aren’t unusual on a new collider, but given the major accident in 2008, plus the huge public interest, it was a very nervous morning.

3.5 TeV collision

One of the first 3.5 TeV collisions in ATLAS

I guess this is how space scientists feel when launch delays happen in mid countdown. Injecting and ramping the beam energy feels like the initiation of a countdown sequence and we had to go through it three times before we finally launched the high energy physics programme of the LHC. For lunchtime. Good enough. Fantastic, in fact.

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Posted in Particle Physics, Physics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

It’s the Future, Stupid*

Posted on 28/03/2010 by Jon Butterworth

Today there is a letter in the Mail on Sunday from a bunch of astronomers and particle physicists backing up Suzanne Moore‘s piece last week. Her article was great (even if the juxtaposition of Carla Bruni’s rear and the now infamous Telegraph typo in my twitter stream was slightly disturbing) and the comments on it seem to show that Mail readers get the point of science better than many politicians. It’s all part of what is now a very public discussion about the importance of science, innovation and technology for future of the UK (in the context of our coming election) and indeed the world.

The MoS piece and letter bracketed a busy week which for me included the launch of the new UK Space Agency on Tuesday, a meeting of STFC’s “Particle Physics, Astronomy and Nuclear” (PPAN) Science Committee” on Wednesday and Thursday, a school governor’s meeting, then a rapid zoom to CERN and back to give a talk at an ATLAS meeting.

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Posted in Particle Physics, Politics, Science, Science Policy | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Minimum Bias

Posted on 22/03/2010 by Jon Butterworth

[29/3/2010 An article based on this, benefiting from Ian Sample’s excellent editorial help, went on the Guardian site. See also Chapter 2.2 of Smashing Physics.]

As of Friday morning, the LHC is accelerating protons to an energy three-and-a-half times higher than the previous record. Within a couple of weeks we expect a steady stream of head-on proton-proton collisions at this energy, allowing us to search for new particles, forces and dimensions in completely new territory.

The LHC really became a collider just before Christmas. The collisions recorded back then were not at particularly high energy, but three experiments have now published results; my experiment, ATLAS, being the latest, with the paper becoming available on Tuesday. Before  storming onward, it’s a good moment to see what these results actually tell us.

The detectors (ALICE, CMS, ATLAS in this case) are basically huge digital cameras designed to record what happens when protons smash together. The first thing you do with a new collider and detector is measure the particles produced in a typical collision.

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Posted in Particle Physics, Physics, Science | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Dreamt of in your philosophy

Posted on 16/03/2010 by Jon Butterworth

I strive to retain respect for philosophy and philosophers, really I do. Some of my best friends are philosophers. I’d hate to dismiss a whole area of intellectual endeavour as a sterile playground for clever wasters creating and demolishing pointless academic fashions. But you can probably tell I’m struggling hard right at this moment. It is all Nicholas Maxwell‘s fault. His entry into the heated debate on climate science rained blow after blow on my patience. I will resist, and will not damn all philosophy.

My second tactic is usually to ignore it (“No I can’t prove that chair exists.  In fact it may not, because I can hear you talking out of your arse so clearly”). Life is too short. But in this case it got under my skin. This is partly because he picks on physics (hey! that’s me!) and partly because the climate debate Maxwell has stumbled ineptly into is real and important. And physicists have themselves stumbled fairly ineptly into this debate recently, as I discussed here.

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Posted in Climate Change, Philosophy, Science | Tagged | 13 Comments