particle accelerator

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Experiment Results Upend Known Laws of Physics

Researchers say the Standard Model doesn't explain what's happening with muons

(Newser) - Preliminary results from two experiments suggest something could be wrong with the basic way physicists think the universe works, a prospect that has the field of particle physics both baffled and thrilled. The tiniest particles aren't quite doing what is expected of them when spun around two different long-running...

Fastest Event Ever Recorded Took 247 'Zeptoseconds'

Scientists clocked a photon moving across a molecule

(Newser) - It's shorter than a millisecond, shorter than a nanosecond, and even shorter than summers seem when you're a kid—it's the zeptosecond, the unit scientists used to measure the shortest interval of time ever recorded. A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a second, or...

Degas Painting Panned as Discolored Hid Secret Image

Had Degas used thicker paint, the face may not have been possible to see

(Newser) - In 2008, a researcher in the Netherlands used an advanced X-ray technique to show that Vincent van Gogh's 1887 work "Patch of Grass" was actually done over an earlier painting of a woman's face. The practice is thought to have been common for van Gogh, with an...

CERN Wants Even Bigger Large Hadron Collider

50-mile monstrosity would study nature of gravity

(Newser) - The Large Hadron Collider just isn't large enough for CERN. The Geneva-based team that found the Higgs boson has set its sights on bigger and better things—emphasis on the bigger—and is now proposing replacing the current collider, which runs through 17 miles of tunnel, with a new...

Hottest Temp Ever Created by Man: 7 Trillion Degrees

Physicists produced it during quest to learn more about Big Bang

(Newser) - A team of New York physicists has managed to smash gold ions into a quark-gluon plasma much like the one believed to have existed in the milliseconds after the Big Bang—and in the process broken the Guinness World Record for the hottest man-made temperature ever recorded. The plasma hit...

Fermilab Closes In on Higgs Boson

New report shows evidence matching CERN findings

(Newser) - Particle physicists are closer than ever to confirming the existence of the Higgs boson, thanks to a report this morning from Illinois' Fermilab. Two teams of physicists that used Fermilab's now-closed Tevatron particle collider and reviewed data provided by their experiments over the last few years say they've...

2nd Test Finds Faster-Than-Light Particles

Result backs up much-hyped, and much criticized, earlier experiment

(Newser) - The international physics team OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion Tracking Apparatus) has managed to recreate the result that shocked the physics world , again detecting a batch of subatomic particles moving faster than the speed of light, the Washington Post reports. The "positive outcome of the test makes us more...

New Super X-Ray to Study Earth's Core

Experiments could shed light on planet's inner workings

(Newser) - The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility has inaugurated a new X-ray beam that could tell us much about Earth’s most mysterious place: its core. The recently revamped ESRF uses a huge particle accelerator to create various intense X-Ray beams, which can give scientists an atom-level look at their subjects. The...

CERN Quashes ‘God Particle’ Rumors

Leaked memo just one of many, atom-smashers say

(Newser) - The atom-smashers at CERN have quelled rumors that the elusive Higgs boson "God particle" has been found. A leaked internal memo that suggested detectors at the Large Hadron Collider had found signs of the particle caused excitement when it was posted on a science blog, but CERN says nothing...

'God Particle' Buzz at Fermilab
 'God Particle' Buzz at Fermilab 
Jul 13, 2010 4:33 AM CDT

'God Particle' Buzz at Fermilab

Elusive Higgs boson signal would confirm particle physics model

(Newser) - Take that, Large Hadron Collider: Just as the particle accelerator at the Fermi national lab in Illinois was about to be retired in favor of the bigger LHC, rumor has it that the Fermi accelerator, the Tevatron, has found the long-sought Higgs boson, also known as the "God particle....

Large Hadron Collider Gets Closer to Mini-Big Bang

Proton collision shatters record as scientists cheer

(Newser) - The world's largest atom smasher conducted its first experiments at conditions nearing those after the Big Bang today, breaking its own record for high-energy collisions with proton beams crashing into each other at three times more force than ever before. In a milestone for the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider's...

Large Hadron Collider Closing Down for a Year

Atom-smasher needs months of work to run at full capacity

(Newser) - The glitch-plagued Large Hadron Collider will be closing down for a year at the end of 2011 to fix flaws in its construction. The atom-smasher restarted recently after being out of commission for 14 months and will soon accelerate protons to energies of 7 trillion electron volts. It will take...

Collider Must Produce 'Eureka Moments'
 Collider Must Produce 
 'Eureka Moments' 
glossies
Dec 13, 2009 7:38 AM CST

Collider Must Produce 'Eureka Moments'

If not, particle physics hits a brick wall

(Newser) - With the Large Hadron Collider getting back into action, Kurt Andersen travels to the French-Swiss border to examine the potentially "paradigm-shifting" consequences. Or at least, physicists hope it will shift some paradigms. "If this new collider doesn’t produce groundbreaking discoveries, particle physics will have reached a dead...

At Last, Collider Gets Atoms Smashing

First proton beams collide in huge contraption

(Newser) - For the first time, the world’s largest, most expensive science experiment worked as it was supposed to today, with the Large Hadron Collider sending beams of protons smashing into each other—as envisioned when it first opened in 2008. The 17-mile track underneath the French-Swiss Alps has seen more...

'God Machine' Warming Up for 2nd Startup in Dec.

Large Hadron Collider is ready to roll after a year of repairs

(Newser) - The Large Hadron Collider is ready to start smashing particles together again, equipment, the laws of nature, and the Almighty permitting. The $9 billion particle accelerator has been fully repaired after a short circuit put it out of action for more than a year, and should be ready to roll...

New Element Joins Periodic Table

Experiments confirm existence of super-heavy Element 112

(Newser) - The periodic table of elements will soon gain a new—and the heaviest known—element, the BBC reports. Element 112 was first discovered over a decade ago and its existence has now been confirmed after extensive experiments. Authorities have temporarily named it "ununbium," and its German discoverers have...

Glitch Stalls Atom Smasher
 Glitch Stalls Atom Smasher 
Sep 19, 2008 12:40 PM CDT

Glitch Stalls Atom Smasher

(Newser) - The Large Hadron Collider, the $5-billion, 17-mile experiment seeking answers to the universe’s deepest mysteries, hit a snag within hours of its Sept. 10 launch, but its overseer did not report the malfunction for a week, the Daily Telegraph reports. A 30-ton transformer in the cooling system broke, causing...

'Big Bang' Machine Switched On, We're Still Here

Feared planet-devouring black hole fortunately fails to materialize

(Newser) - The Large Hadron Collider was switched on today and the world did not end, as some doomsayers predicted, Reuters reports. Scientists at CERN in Switzerland now plan to use the giant particle-smashing machine to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang and shed light on the origins of the universe....

Huge Particle Collider Ready for Debut

Probably won't destroy universe

(Newser) - Physicists across the world will spend the wee hours of tomorrow morning watching with bated breath as the world’s most expensive science experiment gets under way, the New York Times reports. At 3:30am Eastern, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider will switch on for the first time, sending particles...

Physics and Improv Collide
Physics and Improv Collide
Sep 4, 2008 2:43 PM CDT

Physics and Improv Collide

Scientists on particle accelerator project learn communication from comedy

(Newser) - Physicists trying to explain the nature of the universe using the largest particle accelerator ever built are also trying to learn something else: communication skills to help them explain what they’ve learned to the rest of world. And they’re going about it in a unique way, the Wall ...

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