The first hadron collider. Discoveries made at the Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider has been called either the "Doomsday Machine" or the key to the mystery of the Universe, but its significance is not in doubt.

As the famous British thinker Bertrand Russell once said: “philosophy is what you know, philosophy is what you don’t know.” It would seem that it is true scientific knowledge has long been separated from its origins, which can be found in philosophical research Ancient Greece, but it is not so.

Throughout the twentieth century, scientists have tried to find in science an answer to the question of the structure of the world. This process was similar to the search for the meaning of life: a huge number of theories, assumptions and even crazy ideas. What conclusions did scientists come to? beginning of XXI century?

The whole world is made up of elementary particles, which represent the final forms of all things, that is, that which cannot be split into smaller elements. These include protons, electrons, neutrons, and so on. These particles are in constant interaction with each other. At the beginning of our century, it was expressed in 4 fundamental types: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong and weak. The first is described by the General Theory of Relativity, the other three are combined within the framework Standard model(quantum theory). It was also suggested that there was another interaction, later called the Higgs field.

Gradually, the idea of ​​uniting all fundamental interactions within the framework of “ theories of everything", which was initially perceived as a joke, but quickly grew into a powerful scientific direction. Why is this necessary? It's simple! Without understanding how the world works, we are like ants in an artificial nest - we will not get beyond our capabilities. Human knowledge cannot (well, or Bye cannot, if you are an optimist) cover the entire structure of the world.

One of the most famous theories claiming to “embrace everything” is considered string theory. It implies that the entire Universe and our lives are multidimensional. Despite the developed theoretical part and support famous physicists, such as Brian Greene and Stephen Hawking, it has no experimental confirmation.

Scientists, decades later, got tired of broadcasting from the stands and decided to build something that should dot the i’s once and for all. For this purpose, the world's largest experimental installation was created - Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

"To the collider!"

What is a collider? In scientific terms, this is a charged particle accelerator designed to accelerate elementary particles for further understanding of their interaction. In non-scientific terms, it is a large arena (or sandbox, if you prefer) in which scientists fight to confirm their theories.

The idea of ​​colliding elementary particles and seeing what happens first came from the American physicist Donald William Kerst in 1956. He suggested that thanks to this, scientists would be able to penetrate the secrets of the Universe. It would seem that what’s wrong with colliding two beams of protons with a total energy a million times greater than that from thermonuclear fusion? The times were appropriate: the Cold War, the arms race and all that.

History of the creation of the LHC

The idea of ​​​​creating an accelerator for producing and studying charged particles appeared in the early 1920s, but the first prototypes were created only by the early 1930s. Initially, they were high-voltage linear accelerators, that is, charged particles moved in a straight line. The ring version was introduced in 1931 in the USA, after which similar devices began to appear in a number of developed countries - Great Britain, Switzerland, and the USSR. They got the name cyclotrons, and subsequently began to be actively used to create nuclear weapons.

It should be noted that the cost of building a particle accelerator is incredibly high. Europe playing during cold war not a primary role, entrusted its creation European Organization for Nuclear Research (in Russian often read as CERN), which later took up the construction of the LHC.

CERN was created in the wake of global concern about nuclear research in the USA and USSR, which could lead to general extermination. Therefore, scientists decided to join forces and direct them in a peaceful direction. In 1954, CERN received its official birth.

In 1983, under the auspices of CERN, the W and Z bosons were discovered, after which the question of the discovery of the Higgs bosons became only a matter of time. In the same year, work began on the construction of the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEPC), which played a primary role in the study of the discovered bosons. However, even then it became clear that the power of the created device would soon prove to be insufficient. And in 1984, a decision was made to build the LHC, immediately after the BEPK was dismantled. This is what happened in 2000.

The construction of the LHC, which began in 2001, was facilitated by the fact that it took place on the site of the former BEPK, in the valley of Lake Geneva. In connection with financing issues (in 1995 the cost was estimated at 2.6 billion Swiss francs, by 2001 it exceeded 4.6 billion, in 2009 it amounted to 6 billion dollars).

At the moment, the LHC is located in a tunnel with a circumference of 26.7 km and passes through the territories of two European countries- France and Switzerland. The depth of the tunnel varies from 50 to 175 meters. It should also be noted that the collision energy of protons in the accelerator reaches 14 teraelectronvolts, which is 20 times greater than the results achieved using BEPK.

“Curiosity is not a vice, but it is a big disgusting thing.”

The 27-kilometer tunnel of the CERN collider is located 100 meters underground near Geneva. There will be huge superconducting electromagnets here. On the right are transport cars. Juhanson / wikipedia.org (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Why is this man-made “Doomsday Machine” needed? Scientists expect to see the world as it was immediately after big bang, that is, at the moment of formation of matter.

Goals that scientists set for themselves during the construction of the LHC:

1. Confirmation or refutation of the Standard Model with the aim of further creating a “theory of everything”.
2. Proof of the existence of the Higgs boson as a particle of the fifth fundamental force. It, according to theoretical research, should influence the electrical and weak interaction, breaking their symmetry.
3. The study of quarks, which are a fundamental particle that is 20 thousand times smaller than the protons consisting of them.
4. Obtaining and studying dark matter, which makes up most of the Universe.

These are far from the only goals assigned by scientists to the LHC, but the rest are more related or purely theoretical.

What have you achieved?

Undoubtedly, the largest and most significant achievement was the official confirmation of the existence Higgs boson. The discovery of the fifth interaction (the Higgs field), which, according to scientists, affects the acquisition of mass by all elementary particles. It is believed that when symmetry is broken during the influence of the Higgs field on other fields, the W and Z bosons become massive. The discovery of the Higgs boson is so significant that a number of scientists have given them the name “god particles.”

Quarks combine into particles (protons, neutrons and others), which are called hadrons. They are the ones that accelerate and collide at the LHC, hence its name. During the operation of the collider, it was proven that it is simply impossible to separate a quark from a hadron. If you try to do this, you will simply tear out another type of elementary particle from, for example, a proton - meson. Despite the fact that this is only one of the hadrons and does not contain anything new, further study of the interaction of quarks should be carried out in small steps. In researching the fundamental laws of the functioning of the Universe, haste is dangerous.

Although quarks themselves were not discovered during the use of the LHC, their existence was, until a certain point, perceived as a mathematical abstraction. The first such particles were found in 1968, but only in 1995 the existence of a “true quark” was officially proven. The experimental results are confirmed by the ability to reproduce them. Therefore, the achievement of a similar result by the LHC is perceived not as a repetition, but as solidifying proof of their existence! Although the problem with the reality of quarks has not disappeared anywhere, because they are simply cannot be selected from hadrons.

What are your plans?

The main task of creating a “theory of everything” was not solved, but theoretical elaboration possible options its manifestations are underway. Until now, one of the problems of combining the General Theory of Relativity and the Standard Model remains the different scope of their action, and therefore the second does not take into account the features of the first. Therefore, it is important to go beyond the Standard Model and reach the edge New physics.

Supersymmetry – scientists believe that it connects bosonic and fermionic quantum fields, so much so that they can turn into each other. It is this kind of conversion that goes beyond the Standard Model, since there is a theory that the symmetric mapping of quantum fields is based on gravitons. They, accordingly, can be an elementary particle of gravity.

Madala Boson– the hypothesis about the existence of the Madala boson assumes that there is another field. Only if the Higgs boson interacts with known particles and matter, then the Madala boson interacts with dark matter. Despite the fact that it occupies most of the Universe, its existence is not included in the Standard Model.

Microscopic black hole - One of the LHC's research is to create a black hole. Yes, yes, exactly that black, all-consuming area in outer space. Fortunately, no significant achievements have been made in this direction.

Today the Large Hadron Collider is a multi-purpose Research Center, on the basis of whose work theories are created and experimentally confirmed that will help us better understand the structure of the world. There are often waves of criticism around a number of ongoing studies that are branded dangerous, including from Stephen Hawking, but the game is definitely worth the candle. We cannot sail in the black ocean called the Universe with a captain who has neither a map, nor a compass, nor basic knowledge of the world around us.

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Many have already, one way or another, heard the term “Large Hadron Collider”. Of these words, only the word “big” is familiar to the common man. But what is it really? And is it possible for a mere mortal to master this physical term?

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a facility for physicists to experiment with elementary particles. According to the formulation, the LHC is an accelerator of charged particles using colliding beams, designed to accelerate heavy ions and protons and study collision products. In other words, scientists collide atoms and then see what comes out of it.

At this time, this is the largest experimental installation in the world. The size of this installation can be compared to a city with a diameter of almost 27 kilometers, which is located at a depth of one hundred meters. This installation is located near Geneva and cost $10 billion to build.

One of the main tasks of the LHC installation (according to scientists) is the search for the Higgs boson. Yet again, in simple words is an attempt to find the particle that is responsible for the presence of mass.

In parallel with this, search experiments are being conducted at the collider:

— particles outside the “Standard Model”,

— magnetic monopoles (particles with magnetic field),

— also, the study of quantum gravity and the study of microscopic holes are underway.

These ones "microscopic black holes" and do not give many people peace. Moreover, not only those for whom acquaintance with physics ended at school are worried, but also those who continue to study it at a professional level.

What a black hole is is known to everyone, both from school and from science fiction stories and films. Many (including scientists) worry that such experiments, some of which are designed to try to recreate the “big bang” (after which, according to theory, the universe arose) will lead to the inevitable collapse of the entire planet.

Scientists reassure that there is no danger from these experiments. But there is one more fact that the luminaries of science never take into account. We are talking about weapons.

Every normal scientist, making a discovery or inventing something, does it for two purposes. The first goal is to help the world live better, and the second, less humane, but human, is to become famous.

But, for some reason, all inventions (without exaggeration) take their place in the creation of tools for killing the same humanity and famous scientists. Even discoveries that have become commonplace for us (radio, mechanical engines, satellite television, etc.), not to mention atomic energy, have firmly taken their place in the defense industry.

In 2016, in the Moscow region they plan to launch an installation similar to the European LHC. But the Russian installation, unlike its “big brother,” must actually recreate the “big bang” on a small scale.

And who will guarantee that neighboring Moscow (and with it the Earth) will not become the progenitor of a new “black hole” in the vast universe?

The history of the creation of the accelerator, which we know today as the Large Hadron Collider, dates back to 2007. Initially, the chronology of accelerators began with the cyclotron. The device was a small device that easily fit on the table. Then the history of accelerators began to develop rapidly. The synchrophasotron and synchrotron appeared.

In history, perhaps the most interesting period was the period from 1956 to 1957. In those days, Soviet science, in particular physics, did not lag behind its foreign brothers. Using years of experience, a Soviet physicist named Vladimir Veksler made a breakthrough in science. He created the most powerful synchrophasotron at that time. Its operating power was 10 gigaelectronvolts (10 billion electronvolts). After this discovery, serious samples of accelerators were created: the large electron-positron collider, the Swiss accelerator, in Germany, the USA. They all had one common goal - the study of the fundamental particles of quarks.

The Large Hadron Collider was created primarily thanks to the efforts of an Italian physicist. His name is Carlo Rubbia, laureate Nobel Prize. During his career, Rubbia worked as a director at the European Organization for Nuclear Research. It was decided to build and launch a hadron collider on the site of the research center.

Where is the hadron collider?

The collider is located on the border between Switzerland and France. Its circumference is 27 kilometers, which is why it is called large. The accelerator ring goes deep from 50 to 175 meters. The collider has 1232 magnets. They are superconducting, which means that the maximum field for acceleration can be generated from them, since there is practically no energy consumption in such magnets. The total weight of each magnet is 3.5 tons with a length of 14.3 meters.

Like any physical object, the Large Hadron Collider generates heat. Therefore, it must be constantly cooled. To achieve this, the temperature is maintained at 1.7 K using 12 million liters of liquid nitrogen. In addition, 700 thousand liters are used for cooling, and most importantly, a pressure is used that is ten times lower than normal atmospheric pressure.

A temperature of 1.7 K on the Celsius scale is -271 degrees. This temperature is almost close to what is called the minimum possible limit that a physical body can have.

The inside of the tunnel is no less interesting. There are niobium-titanium cables with superconducting capabilities. Their length is 7600 kilometers. The total weight of the cables is 1200 tons. The inside of the cable is a weave of 6,300 wires with a total distance of 1.5 billion kilometers. This length is equal to 10 astronomical units. For example, equals 10 such units.

If we talk about its geographical location, we can say that the rings of the collider lie between the cities of Saint-Genis and Forney-Voltaire, located on French side, as well as Meyrin and Wessurat - from the Swiss side. A small ring called PS runs along the diameter of the border.

The meaning of existence

In order to answer the question “what is a hadron collider for,” you need to turn to scientists. Many scientists say that this is the greatest invention in the entire history of science, and that without it, science as we know it today simply has no meaning. The existence and launch of the Large Hadron Collider is interesting because when particles collide in the hadron collider, an explosion occurs. All tiny particles scatter in different directions. New particles are formed that can explain the existence and meaning of many things.

The first thing scientists tried to find in these crashed particles was a theoretically predicted elementary particle by physicist Peter Higgs, called This amazing particle is a carrier of information, it is believed. It is also commonly called the “particle of God.” Its discovery would bring scientists closer to understanding the universe. It should be noted that in 2012, on July 4, the hadron collider (its launch was partially successful) helped discover a similar particle. Today, scientists are trying to study it in more detail.

How long...

Of course, the question immediately arises: why have scientists been studying these particles for so long? If you have a device, you can run it and take more and more data each time. The fact is that operating a hadron collider is an expensive proposition. One launch costs a lot of money. For example, annual energy consumption is 800 million kWh. This amount of energy is consumed by a city with a population of about 100 thousand people, by average standards. And that doesn't include maintenance costs. Another reason is that at the hadron collider, the explosion that occurs when protons collide is associated with obtaining a large amount of data: computers read so much information that it takes time to process a large number of time. Even though the power of computers that receive information is great even by today's standards.

The next reason is no less well-known. Scientists working with the collider in this direction are confident that the visible spectrum of the entire universe is only 4%. It is assumed that the remaining ones are dark matter and dark energy. They are trying to prove experimentally that this theory is correct.

Hadron Collider: for or against

The theory put forward about dark matter questioned the safety of the hadron collider. The question arose: “Hadron collider: for or against?” He worried many scientists. All the great minds of the world are divided into two categories. "Opponents" put forward interesting theory that if such matter exists, then it must have a particle opposite to it. And when particles collide in the accelerator, a dark part appears. There was a risk that the dark part and the part we see would collide. Then this could lead to the death of the entire universe. However, after the first launch of the hadron collider, this theory was partially broken.

Next in importance comes the explosion of the universe, or rather, the birth. It is believed that during a collision it is possible to observe how the universe behaved in the first seconds of its existence. The way it looked after the Big Bang originated. It is believed that the process of particle collisions is very similar to that which occurred at the very beginning of the universe.

Another equally fantastic idea that scientists are testing is exotic models. It seems incredible, but there is a theory that suggests that there are other dimensions and universes with people similar to us. And oddly enough, the accelerator can help here too.

Simply put, the purpose of the accelerator is to understand what the universe is, how it was created, to prove or disprove everything existing theories about particles and related phenomena. Of course, this will take years, but with each launch new discoveries emerge that revolutionize the world of science.

Facts about the accelerator

Everyone knows that an accelerator accelerates particles to 99% of the speed of light, but not many people know that the percentage is 99.9999991% of the speed of light. This amazing figure makes sense thanks to the perfect design and powerful acceleration magnets. There are also some lesser known facts to note.

The approximately 100 million data streams coming from each of the two main detectors could fill more than 100,000 CD-ROMs in a matter of seconds. In just one month, the number of disks would reach such a height that if they were stacked, they would be enough to reach the Moon. Therefore, it was decided to collect not all the data that comes from the detectors, but only those that will be allowed to be used by the data collection system, which in fact acts as a filter for the received data. It was decided to record only 100 events that occurred at the moment of the explosion. These events will be recorded in the archive of the Large Hadron Collider computer center, which is located in the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, which is also the location of the accelerator. What will be recorded will not be those events that were recorded, but those that are of greatest interest to the scientific community.

Post-processing

Once recorded, hundreds of kilobytes of data will be processed. For this purpose, more than two thousand computers located at CERN are used. The task of these computers is to process primary data and form a database from it that will be convenient for further analysis. Next, the generated data flow will be sent to the GRID computer network. This Internet network unites thousands of computers located in different institutes around the world and connects more than a hundred large centers located on three continents. All such centers are connected to CERN using fiber optics for maximum data transfer speeds.

Speaking about facts, we must also mention the physical indicators of the structure. The accelerator tunnel is deviated by 1.4% from the horizontal plane. This was done primarily in order to place most of the accelerator tunnel in a monolithic rock. Thus, the placement depth is at opposite sides different. If we count from the side of the lake, which is located near Geneva, then the depth will be 50 meters. The opposite part has a depth of 175 meters.

The interesting thing is that lunar phases affect the accelerator. It would seem how such a distant object can influence at such a distance. However, it has been observed that during the full moon, when the tide occurs, the land in the Geneva area rises by as much as 25 centimeters. This affects the length of the collider. The length thereby increases by 1 millimeter, and the beam energy also changes by 0.02%. Since the beam energy must be controlled down to 0.002%, researchers must take this phenomenon into account.

It is also interesting that the collider tunnel has the shape of an octagon, and not a circle, as many imagine. Corners are created by short sections. They contain installed detectors, as well as a system that controls the beam of accelerating particles.

Structure

The Hadron Collider, whose launch involves a lot of parts and a lot of excitement among scientists, is an amazing device. The entire accelerator consists of two rings. The small ring is called the Proton Synchrotron or, to use its abbreviations, PS. The Big Ring is the Super Proton Synchrotron, or SPS. Together, the two rings allow the parts to accelerate to 99.9% of the speed of light. At the same time, the collider also increases the energy of protons, increasing their total energy by 16 times. It also allows particles to collide with each other approximately 30 million times/s. within 10 hours. From the 4 main detectors, at least 100 terabytes of digital data per second are obtained. Obtaining data is determined by individual factors. For example, they can detect elementary particles that have a negative electric charge, and also have half spin. Since these particles are unstable, their direct detection is impossible; it is only possible to detect their energy, which will be emitted at a certain angle to the beam axis. This stage is called the first launch level. This stage is monitored by more than 100 special data processing boards, which have built-in logic implementation. This part of the work is characterized by the fact that during the period of data acquisition, more than 100 thousand blocks of data are selected per second. This data will then be used for analysis, which occurs using a higher level mechanism.

Systems at the next level, on the contrary, receive information from all detector threads. The detector software runs on a network. There it will use a large number of computers to process subsequent blocks of data, the average time between blocks is 10 microseconds. Programs will have to create particle marks corresponding to the original points. The result will be a generated set of data consisting of impulse, energy, trajectory and others that arose during one event.

Accelerator parts

The entire accelerator can be divided into 5 main parts:

1) Electron-positron collider accelerator. The part consists of about 7 thousand magnets with superconducting properties. With their help, the beam is directed through a circular tunnel. They also concentrate the beam into one stream, the width of which is reduced to the width of one hair.

2) Compact muon solenoid. This is a general purpose detector. Such a detector is used to search for new phenomena and, for example, to search for Higgs particles.

3) LHCb detector. The significance of this device is to search for quarks and their opposite particles - antiquarks.

4) Toroidal installation ATLAS. This detector is designed to detect muons.

5) Alice. This detector captures lead ion collisions and proton-proton collisions.

Problems when launching the Hadron Collider

Despite the fact that the presence high technology eliminates the possibility of errors; in practice, everything is different. During the assembly of the accelerator, delays and failures occurred. It must be said that this situation was not unexpected. The device contains so many nuances and requires such precision that scientists expected similar results. For example, one of the problems that scientists faced during the launch was the failure of the magnet that focused the proton beams immediately before their collision. This serious accident was caused by the destruction of part of the fastening due to the loss of superconductivity by the magnet.

This problem occurred in 2007. Because of this, the launch of the collider was postponed several times, and only in June the launch took place; almost a year later, the collider was launched.

The latest launch of the collider was successful, collecting many terabytes of data.

The Hadron Collider, which was launched on April 5, 2015, is operating successfully. Over the course of a month, the beams will be driven around the ring, gradually increasing their power. There is no purpose for the study as such. The beam collision energy will be increased. The value will be raised from 7 TeV to 13 TeV. Such an increase will allow us to see new possibilities in particle collisions.

In 2013 and 2014 serious technical inspections of tunnels, accelerators, detectors and other equipment took place. The result was 18 bipolar magnets with superconducting function. It should be noted that their total number is 1232 pieces. However, the remaining magnets did not go unnoticed. In the rest, the cooling protection systems were replaced and improved ones were installed. The magnetic cooling system has also been improved. This allows them to remain at low temperatures at maximum power.

If everything goes well, the next launch of the accelerator will take place only in three years. After this period, planned work is planned to improve and technically inspect the collider.

It should be noted that repairs cost a pretty penny, not taking into account the cost. The Hadron Collider, as of 2010, has a price tag of 7.5 billion euros. This figure puts the entire project in first place on the list of the most expensive projects in the history of science.

It is the search for ways to combine two fundamental theories - GTR (about gravitational theory) and the Standard Model (the standard model that combines three fundamental physical interactions - electromagnetic, strong and weak). Finding a solution before the creation of the LHC was hampered by difficulties in creating the theory of quantum gravity.

The construction of this hypothesis involves the combination of two physical theories - quantum mechanics And general theory relativity.

For this purpose, several popular and necessary ones were used at once. modern approaches– string theory, brane theory, supergravity theory, and also the theory of quantum gravity. Before the construction of the collider, the main problem in carrying out the necessary experiments was the lack of energy, which cannot be achieved with other modern charged particle accelerators.

The Geneva LHC gave scientists the opportunity to conduct previously impossible experiments. It is believed that in the near future, with the help of the device, many physical theories. One of the most problematic is supersymmetry or string theory, which has long divided physics into two camps - the “stringers” and their rivals.

Other fundamental experiments carried out as part of the LHC work

The research of scientists in the field of studying top- , which are the heaviest quarks and the heaviest (173.1 ± 1.3 GeV/c²) of all currently known elementary particles, is also interesting.

Because of this property, even before the creation of the LHC, scientists could only observe quarks at the Tevatron accelerator, since other devices simply did not have sufficient power and energy. In turn, the theory of quarks is important element the sensational hypothesis about the Higgs boson.

Scientists carry out all scientific research on the creation and study of the properties of quarks in the top-quark-antiquark steam room at the LHC.

An important goal of the Geneva project is also the process of studying the mechanism of electroweak symmetry, which is also associated with the experimental proof of the existence of the Higgs boson. To define the problem even more precisely, the subject of study is not so much the boson itself, but the mechanism for breaking the symmetry of the electroweak interaction predicted by Peter Higgs.

Within the framework of the LHC, experiments are also being carried out to search for supersymmetry - and the desired result will be theories that any elementary particle always accompanied by a heavier partner, and her refutation.

Some facts about the Large Hadron Collider, how and why it was created, what is its use and what potential dangers does it pose for humanity.

1. The construction of the LHC, or Large Hadron Collider, was conceived back in 1984, and began only in 2001. 5 years later, in 2006, thanks to the efforts of more than 10 thousand engineers and scientists from different countries, the construction of the Large Hadron Collider was completed.

2. The LHC is the largest experimental facility in the world.

3. So why the Large Hadron Collider?
It was called large due to its substantial size: the length of the main ring along which particles are driven is about 27 km.
Hadronic - since the installation accelerates hadrons (particles that consist of quarks).
Collider - due to beams of particles accelerating in the opposite direction, which collide with each other at special points.

4. What is the Large Hadron Collider for? The LHC is a state-of-the-art research center where scientists conduct experiments with atoms, colliding ions and protons with each other at enormous speed. Scientists hope to use research to lift the veil on the mysteries of the origin of the Universe.

5. The project cost scientific community in an astronomical amount - 6 billion dollars. By the way, Russia delegated 700 specialists to the LHC, who are still working today. Orders for the LHC brought Russian enterprises about $120 million.

6. Without a doubt, the main discovery made at the LHC is the discovery in 2012 of the Higgs boson, or as it is also called “God particles.” The Higgs boson is the last link in the Standard Model. Another significant event at Bak'e was the achievement of a record collision energy of 2.36 teraelectronvolts.

7. Some scientists, including in Russia, believe that thanks to large-scale experiments at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where the collider is actually located), scientists will be able to build the world’s first time machine. However, most scientists do not share the optimism of their colleagues.

8. Mankind's main concerns about the most powerful accelerator on the planet are based on the danger that threatens humanity as a result of the formation of microscopic black holes capable of capturing surrounding matter. There is another potential and extremely dangerous threat - the emergence of straplets (derived from Strange Droplet), which, hypothetically, are capable of colliding with the nucleus of an atom, forming more and more straplets, transforming the matter of the entire Universe. However, most of the most respected scientists say that such an outcome is unlikely. But theoretically possible

9. In 2008, CERN was sued by two residents of the state of Hawaii. They accused CERN of trying to end humanity through negligence, demanding safety guarantees from scientists.

10. The Large Hadron Collider is located in Switzerland near Geneva. There is a museum at CERN, where visitors are clearly explained about the principles of operation of the collider and why it was built.

11 . And finally, a little fun fact. Judging by queries in Yandex, many people who are looking for information about the Large Hadron Collider do not know how to correctly spell the name of the accelerator. For example, they write “andronic” (and they not only write, what are the NTV reports with their aAndronic collider worth), sometimes they write “android” (The Empire Strikes Back). In the bourgeois internet, they are also not lagging behind and instead of “hadron” they type “hardon” into the search engine (in Orthodox English hard-on - hard-on). An interesting variant of the spelling in Belarusian is “Vyaliki gadronny paskaralnik”, which translates as “Large gadrony accelerator”.

Hadron Collider. Photo