Warp Speed or Photon Bombs?

The largest magnet has been installed in the largest particle accellerator, the “large hadron collider” at CERN. In order to detect the types of particles that scientists theorize may be available, they must use the world’s largest particle detectors pictured below. What do they think they will find?

Maybe time travel. Alternate universes. The fifth dimension. They just need to hurry up and invent warp drive. What can I say? I’m a trekkie.

From Reuters here:

The world’s leading center for research into the origins of matter on Wednesday took a giant step toward the launch of a 15-year experiment which scientists hope will unlock many secrets of the universe.

A huge magnet, weighing 1,920 tonnes or the equivalent of five jumbo jets and a key element in the program, was lowered into a vast cavern 100 meters below ground at the multinational center, CERN, on the Swiss-French border near Geneva.

Some of his colleagues say the experiment, smashing particles together at high speed in a Large Hadron Collider (LHC), may bring new knowledge such as the possible existence of multiple dimensions beyond the four of traditional physics — width, length, height and time.

Others speak, if cautiously, of venturing into realms long regarded as those of speculative science fiction — multiple universes, parallel worlds, black holes in space linking different levels of existence.

I know just a tiny bit about particle physics. I did a lot of research on it when I became interested in the “Jefferson Lab” formerly CEBAF, which is an underground particle accelerator in midtown Newport News VA, which is right next to a major shopping mall.

If you want to read what scientists think about this LHC, read their forum here. And Dan Brown’s best work was not the DaVinci Code. It was Angels and Demons. It was about anti-matter being stolen from CERN to blow up the Vatican. You can get a copy of it by clicking the pic below.