The Quantum Frontier : The Large Hadron Collider

The Highest-energy Particle Accelerator Ever Built, The Large Hadron Collider Runs Under The Border Between France And Switzerland. It Leapt Into Action On September 10, 2008, Amid Unprecedented Global Press Coverage And Widespread Fears That Its Energy Would Create Tiny Black Holes That Could Destroy The Earth. By Smashing Together Particles Smaller Than Atoms, The Lhc Recreates The Conditions Hypothesized To Have Existed Just Moments After The Big Bang. Physicists Expect It To Aid Our Understanding Of How The Universe Came Into Being And To Show Us Much About The Standard Model Of Particle Physics - Even Possibly Proving The Existence Of The Mysterious Higgs Boson. In Exploring What The Collider Does And What It Might Find, Don Lincoln Explains What The Lhc Is Likely To Teach Us About Particle Physics, Including Uncovering The Nature Of Dark Matter, Finding Micro Black Holes And Supersymmetric Particles, Identifying Extra Dimensions, And Revealing The Origin Of Mass In The Universe. Thousands Of Physicists From Around The Globe Will Have Access To The Lhc, None Of Whom Really Knows What Outcomes Will Be Produced By The $7.7 Billion Project. Whatever It Reveals, The Results Arising From The Large Hadron Collider Will Profoundly Alter Our Understanding Of The Cosmos And The Atom And Stimulate Amateur And Professional Scientists For Years To Come.--jacket. What We Know : The Standard Model -- What We Guess : Theories We Want To Test -- How We Do It : The Large Hadron Collider -- How We See It : The Enormous Detectors -- Where We're Going : The Big Picture, The Universe, And The Future. Don Lincoln ; Foreword By Leon Lederman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 165-168) And Index.

The highest-energy particle accelerator ever built, the Large Hadron Collider runs under the border between France and Switzerland. It leapt into action on September 10, 2008, amid unprecedented global press coverage and widespread fears that its energy would create tiny black holes that could destroy the earth.

By smashing together particles smaller than atoms, the LHC recreates the conditions hypothesized to have existed just moments after the big bang. Physicists expect it to aid our understanding of how the universe came into being and to show us much about the standard model of particle physics—even possibly proving the existence of the mysterious Higgs boson. In exploring what the collider does and what it might find, Don Lincoln explains what the LHC is likely to teach us about particle physics, including uncovering the nature of dark matter, finding micro black holes and supersymmetric particles, identifying extra dimensions, and revealing the origin of mass in the universe.

Thousands of physicists from around the globe will have access to the LHC, none of whom really knows what outcomes will be produced by the $7.7 billion project. Whatever it reveals, the results arising from the Large Hadron Collider will profoundly alter our understanding of the cosmos and the atom and stimulate amateur and professional scientists for years to come.

Contents......Page 8 Foreword......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Prologue......Page 18 1 What We Know: The Standard Model......Page 21 2 What We Guess: Theories We Want to Test......Page 40 3 How We Do It: The Large Hadron Collider......Page 84 4 How We See It: The Enormous Detectors......Page 113 5 Where We’re Going: The Big Picture, the Universe, and the Future......Page 153 Epilogue......Page 180 Suggested Reading......Page 182 E......Page 186 L......Page 187 S......Page 188 Z......Page 189 [A] practical attitude is typical of The Quantum Frontier... a useful experimental companion to the many theory-oriented books on particle physics.Physics World