The Large Hadron Collider coming back online and better than ever.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most audacious physics experiment in human history. Now scientists are about to restart the giant particle collider for a new set of experiments. Last time, they did the almost-impossible and found the Higgs Boson. This time, they might find something even more exciting.
Back in 2008, just nine days into its first run of experiments, there was a significant incident at the Large Hadron Collider. A faulty electrical connection between two magnets stopped superconducting, then melted and caused serious mechanical damage to the facility. The accident delayed use of the LHC for six whole months as repairs and testing was undertaken—but it also meant that the facility ran for three years at much lower capacity than envisioned.
Clearly the collider coped. On July 4th 2012, scientists from two experiments at the LHC—CMS and ATLAS—announced that they had discovered a new boson. It was the Higgs Boson; the invisible particle that gives everything mass and, in turn, holds the universe together. The finding was arguably the biggest scientific finding of the decade, perhaps even more.
But all the while it was running below par. The LHC shut down for maintenance in 2013, though, and over the past two years, engineers have beefed it up. They've upgraded the superconducting interconnections between a series of magnets on the accelerator, adding extra shunts and more powerful magnets. The shunts provide a route through which current can escape if high-power accidents—like the one that caused the break back in 2008—happen again, meaning it's safer to run at higher energy levels.
http://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-biggest-physics-experiment-is-about-to-reboo-1691801116#
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It makes me wince.
And then on second read I say, "Oh. Hadron. Got it."
