The
Large Hadron Collider (
LHC) is the world's largest
particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of 7
TeV protons. Its main purpose is to explore the validity and limitations of the
Standard Model, the current theoretical picture for
particle physics. The LHC was built by the
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and lies under the Franco-Swiss border near
Geneva,
Switzerland.
The LHC is the world's largest and the highest-energy particle accelerator.
[ It is funded and built in collaboration with over eight thousand physicists from over eighty-five countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.
The collider is currently undergoing commissioning while being cooled down to its final operating temperature of approximately 1.9 K (−271.25 °C). Initial particle beam injections were successfully carried out on 8-11 August 2008, the first attempt to circulate a beam through the entire LHC is scheduled for 10 September 2008, and the first high-energy collisions are planned to take place after the LHC is officially unveiled, on
21 October 2008 .
When activated, it is theorized that the collider will produce the elusive
Higgs boson, the
observation of which could confirm the predictions and missing links in the
Standard Model of physics and could explain how other
elementary particles acquire properties such as
mass.
Although a few individuals have questioned the
safety of the planned experiments in the media and through the courts, the consensus in the scientific community is that there is no basis for any conceivable threat from the LHC particle collisions.
The Large Hadron Collider has been featured in a number of novels, including
Flashforward by
Robert J. Sawyer,
Black Hole, by Angelo Paratico, and
Decipher by
Stel Pavlou, which described it in some detail. One of the most visible examples is
Angels & Demons by
Dan Brown, which involves dangerous
antimatter created at the LHC used as a weapon against the Vatican. CERN published a "Fact or Fiction?" page discussing the accuracy of the book's portrayal of the LHC, CERN, and particle physics in general. The
movie version of the book had footage filmed on-site at one of the experiments at the LHC; the director,
Ron Howard, also met with CERN experts in an effort to make the science in the story more accurate.
BBC Radio 4 will be broadcasting "Big Bang Day" on 10 September 2008 to coincide with LHC being switched on. Included in this event will be a radio episode of the TV series
Torchwood, with a plot surrounding the LHC, entitled
Lost Souls. Katherine McAlpine, aka "alpinekat", a science writer working at CERN, wrote the lyrics for a personal rap video about the LHC called the "The Large Hadron Rap". The song was added to
YouTube on July 28, 2008, and, as of September 6th, it had been viewed more than a million time
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