Large Hadron Collider: Advancement in the field of Particle physics

Published: 11th Jul, 2022

Overview

What is Large Hadron Collider?
Its Uses and Benefits
About ‘Higgs Boson’ Theory
Atomic physics and particles
Research and Developments by India

Context

The Large Hadron Collider, used to detect atomic particles by squeezing them under high speed collision is started operating for future researches for exploring particle physics.

Background

In 2012, scientists at CERN had discovered the Higgs boson or the ‘God Particle’ during the LHC’s first run.
The discovery concluded the decades-long mystery for ‘force-carrying’ subatomic particle, and proved the existence of the Higgs mechanism, a theory put forth in the mid-sixties.
The Higgs boson and its related energy field are believed to have played a vital role in the creation of the universe.
The LHC’s second run (Run 2) began in 2015 and lasted till
Three years after it shut down for maintenance and upgrades, the collider was switched back on this April 2022.

Higgs Boson Theory

The standard model of particle physics hypothesized about Higgs Boson in 1964.
The discovery was monumental because it appears to confirm the existence of the Higgs field, which is pivotal to the Standard Model and other theories within particle physics.
Discovery of Higgs field would explain why some fundamental particles have mass when the symmetries controlling their interactions should require them to be massless

Analysis

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a giant, complex machine built to study particles that are the smallest known building blocks of all things.
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was built to figure out what the Higgs field is (or Higgs fields are), how it works (or they work), and whether it is (or they are) elementary or composite.
In-fact LHC was built to do much more than discover the Higgs Boson, such as;
- Identify dark matter
- Search for extra dimensions of space and microscopic black holes
- Look for signs of unification of fundamental forces
- Find “evidence” for string theory
- Find the Higgs Boson
- Understand antimatter

It is a 27-km-long track-loop buried structure, 100 metres underground on the Swiss-French border.
Functions:
- In its operational state, it fires two beams of protons almost at the speed of light in opposite directions inside a ring of superconducting electromagnets.
- The magnetic field created by the superconducting electromagnets keeps the protons in a tight beam and guides them along the way as they travel through beam pipes and finally collide.
- Prior to collision, another type of magnet is used to ‘squeeze’ the particles closer together to increase the chances of collisions.
Requirements:
- The particles are so tiny that the task of making them collide is akin to firing two needles 10 km apart with such precision that they meet halfway.
- The LHC uses a distribution system of liquid helium to keep its critical components ultra-cold at minus 271.3 degrees

Interesting Fact:

LHC’s powerful electromagnets carry almost as much current as a bolt of lightning.
The temperature inside the tunnel remains colder than interstellar space.

Working
- It will operate round-the-clock for four years at given energy of 13 tera electron volts.
- An electron volt is the energy given to an electron by accelerating it through 1 volt of electric potential difference.
- A TeV is 100 billion, or 10-to-the-power-of-12, electon volts.

CERN- ‘Conseil européen pour la recherche nucléaire’ Organisation

The European Organization for Nuclear Researchknown as CERN is a European research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.
Established in 1954, the organization is based in a northwest suburb of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border and has 23 member states.
Israel is the only non-European country granted full membership.
CERN is an official United Nations Observer.
Function: CERN's main function is to provide the particle accelerators and other infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research – as a result, numerous experiments have been constructed at CERN through international collaborations.
Location: CERN is the site of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider.

Similar initiatives like LHCs:

ATLAS is the largest general purpose particle detector experiment at the LHC;
The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment is one of the largest international scientific collaborations in history, with the same goals as ATLAS, but which uses different magnet-system design.

India’s Contributions at CERN

Behind Famous theory: Higgs Boson is a particle that is theoretically the reason why all matter in the universe has mass.
- It is Satyendra Nath Bose after whom the sub-atomic particle boson was named.
Partner to projects: India is like a historic father of the project named Paolo Giubellino at CERN.
Contribution of Indian Minds: The CERN runs a number of experimental projects and over 100 Indian scientists are working round the clock.
Contribution by Kolkata Institute: The Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) in Kolkata and its scientists had made significant contributions to the development of the CMS experiments at CERN.

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Large Hadron Collider: Advancement in the field of Particle physics