LHC

The Large Hadron Collider has incredible implications for science, and our understanding of physics. To begin with a description of the Collider, we must first venture into the alumni of particle accelerators and their contributions to our understanding of atoms. The first such particle accelerator operated throughout the 70s and 80s, with a small capability for colliding particles. The next accelerator, brought online in the 80s, had a much larger capability. The current Collider will clash particles with many times those previous numbers’ energy. It resides at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) located in Geneva.

This increasing capability, or electron voltage, is paramount to efforts at finding particles of smaller wavelengths (which lends the scientist an opportunity to see smaller particles, more on this later) by using the kinetic energy of these particles colliding with each other in order to observe the tinnier remnants of these two after the collision. Then quickly, the particles reassemble themselves into a different configuration, possibly into what it started out as.

To understand what sort of particles are being formed, we must venture into the world of subatomic theory. Here, beyond the obvious vestige of atoms, the protons and neutrons which reside at the nucleus of them, and the electrons which orbit around these nuclei, we have the elementary particles; by elementary particles, it is meant there is nothing more divisible about them, nor any smaller particles residing in them (so far as is known).

Particles and waves behave in like manner, such as, both transfer momentum. It was discovered in the 20th century that X-rays behave like particles, and photons and other particles behave like waves. What convinced the scientific community of a particle-wave duality (all energy and matter show properties of particles and waves) are such things as the theory of relativity (which predicted the photon), de Broglie’s hypothesis that momentum is related to wavelength, and used Planck’s constant formula to link the equation, thus a quantum link. Furthermore, diffraction and interference (properties of waves) were shown by experiments in electrons in the late 1920s.

There are four elementary particles, in the standard model, and each of these are either bosons or fermions. There are two major components of Bosons (subdividing into five), and of Fermions, there are also two (subdividing into thirteen separate particles). Some of these are in conflict with the law of general relativity, but the standard model is here to help us understand, and could use some more elucidation on those things we don’t understand, which is why physicists would like to probe further. The Former, Bosons, is what holds atoms and matter together, and the latter makes up matter. The spin of the particle is what determines which of the two it is.

Given that particles behave somewhat like waves, the question arises as to how one can pinpoint the location of one particle if waves can be everywhere. As stated in, “The Quantum World: Quantum Physics For Everyone,” “The particle has a wavelength determined by its momentum—short wavelength for large momentum, long wavelength for small momentum” (Kenneth W. Ford, p.208). One must have lots of momentum to achieve a short wavelength, and thus a proper view of the subject. The reason for increasing electron voltage, as was stated earlier, is to lend the scientist an opportunity to see smaller particles.

Quanta means how much, and when we speak of particles like the meson, we want to know of which particles does it consist of and how many; specifically, the meson is a combination of a quark and an antiquark (Same mass, but opposite electric charge). These can be used to explain basic facts about fundamental forces. The fundamental forces which govern on an atomic level are electromagnetism, strong and weak interactions, and gravitation; though gravity only affects things with mass (Some particles have no mass—photons of light). Gluons are only one of the three gauge bosons whose purpose is to utilize the fundamental forces of nature. As stated in “The Quantum World: Quantum Physics For Everyone,” “Since the strength of the force increases as distance grows, it is impossible to tear one of the particles loose from the others” (Ford p.81). These forces in turn act upon and are used by gluons—this is what holds the quark and antiquark together to form mesons and other particles held together by the strong force.

The uncertainty principle expands on particle-wave duality by stating that we cannot know (as a fact of nature) both the precise momentum and position of a particle and furthermore that in one moment a particle has several momentums (A significant divergence from classical theory and respectively true so long as it is unobserved). An excerpt from “The Quantum World” illustrates this well, “The moment the system is observed, or even when it interacts with some ‘classical’ object…one component of the mixture is magically extracted while the other components…vanish” (Ford p.229-230). Given this information, and expounding upon the uncertainty principle, it can be surmised that a particle could be anywhere along a wavelength of matter and that these particles have several momentums at one moment. The answer can only be extracted as a consequence of probability. Probability takes into effect a strange thing home to quantum mechanics known as superposition, so that you are only getting one measurement of the many ones possible at that very moment.

The Higgs boson particle is hypothesized as being a link in the deeper world of justifying some strange mathematical inconsistencies in the weak force--the logical basis for the particles that use it. The particles the weak force depends on are the W and Z bosons, which are technically, gauge bosons because they are carriers for the fundamental forces. The problem with this is these particles are treated as being mass-less in mathematical calculations, though they do possess mass. To explain how they have gotten mass, and to remain consistent with the standard model, a new field, the Higgs field has been brought into play. This field assigns a number to every point in space based on mass, time, or length, or all of them combined, and by definition of this specific field, bosons inhabit it (completely elementary). The Higgs field theoretically contains a Higgs boson (this being the only one particle conceived of in such a type of field).

The Higgs Boson is an elementary particle quite simply explaining why particles have mass, and it would be very exciting should it be found. The Large Hadron Collider will have several hundred million collisions happening every second, and with those odds, it is expected if there were a Higgs boson then it would be soon discovered and heralded for a new exploration of our understanding of the quantum world.