Scientists achieve record high energy particle collisions as Large Hadron Collider begins search for elusive 'God particle'

By Daily Mail Reporter

Ignition: Scientists react as they view the first particle collision at full power at the Large Hadron Collider on the Swiss-France border


Physicists smashed sub-atomic particles into each other with record energy yesterday, creating thousands of mini-Big Bangs like the primeval explosion that gave birth to the universe 13.7 billion years ago.

Operators at the Large Hadron Collider created a record for the energy of particle conditions as they launched the search for the elusive 'God particle' that could lead to the discovery of fundamental new physics.

The collisions took place at an energy of 7 billion billion electron volts and at a nano-fraction of a second slower than the speed of light in the collider 330ft below the Swiss-French border.

Oliver Buchmueller, one of the key figures on the £6.6billion project, said: 'This is a major breakthrough. We are going where nobody has been before.

'We have opened a new territory for physics.'

The start of the experiment was delayed for several hours after problems with the power supply and an over-sensitive magnet safety system.

This led physicists to shut down the mega-power particle collisions while the faults were repaired.

The problems emerged as beams were injected into the collider this morning, but CERN officials were quick to dismiss any suggestion that it was a repeat of a major incident in September 2008 which seriously damaged the collider and delayed the full launch of the project until now.

Scientists hope the collisions will reveal the answers to some of physics' unanswered questions, including the existence of anti-matter and the Higgs boson - a hypothetical particle that scientists think gives mass to other particles and therefore all objects in the universe.


It's working: Physicists celebrate with a glass of champagne as the CERN collider project finally gets underway this afternoon


The higher energy is meant to increase the likelihood that scientists will be able to examine the smallest particles and forces within the atom.

It is difficult to achieve the necessary collisions because the particles are so tiny that they miss each other as beams are crossed.

Steve Myers, CERN's director for accelerators and technology, described the challenge of lining up the beams as like 'firing needles across the Atlantic and getting them to collide half way'.

Fears were raised after the collider's initial testing in 2008 that it could create micro black holes that would eventually endanger Earth.

But scientists at CERN dismissed any threat to the planet and said any such holes would be so weak that they would vanish almost instantly without causing any damage.


Discovery: The £6.6billion collider will recreate the initial split seconds after the Big Bang on a miniature scale


The collider, in a 17-mile tunnel under the Swiss-French border in Geneva, has been running smoothly since November when it was restarted following extensive repairs.

It was launched with much expectation on September 10, 2008, but was sidetracked nine days later.

A badly-soldered electrical splice overheated, causing extensive damage to the massive magnets and other parts of the collider some 300 ft below the ground.

It cost £26.7 million to repair and improve the machine so that it could be used again at the end of November.

It soon eclipsed its nearest rival - the Tevatron at Fermilab near Chicago - pushing its energy to 1.18 trillion electron volts, or Tev. Tevatron operates at 0.98 Tev.


Hopes: The start of the project this morning was delayed after electrical supply problems and an over-sensitive magnet safety system shut the collider down


Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the director-general of CERN, has said it is likely to take months before any scientific discoveries are made, partly because computers will have to sort through massive amounts of data produced by the collisions.

Mr Heuer said researchers hoped by the end of this year to make discoveries into the dark matter that scientists believe comprises 26 per cent of the universe. The better understood visible matter makes up only 4 per cent of the universe.

Dark matter has been theorised by scientists to account for missing mass and bent light in far-away galaxies. Scientists believe it makes galaxies spin faster.

A separate entity called 'dark energy', making up the remaining 70 per cent of the universe, is believed to be linked to the vacuum that is evenly distributed in space and time. It is believed to accelerate the expansion of the universe.

Other possible candidates for discovery are hidden dimensions of space and time.


source: dailymail