The L HC –  the answer to cosmological puzzles or the Apocalypse?

    The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a huge international science and engineering project exploring the boundaries of our knowledge and theories about the world we live in. It is an excellent example of how science works in the real world and a great opportunity to use a current and topical project as a resource for topics in physics, particle physics and engineering.

  The LHC is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of protons with very high kinetic energy. Each of the two beams contains just a billionth of a gram of matter. The material is moving so fast that one billionth of a gram has the momentum of a freight train going at a speed of 190 km/hr  squeezed into two 27 km long circular streams each thinner than a human hair. You could think of it as the biggest, most powerful microscope in the history of science. The LHC completed underneath a circle of countryside and villages a short drive from Geneva, will peer into the physics of the shortest distances (down to a nano-nanometer) and the highest energies ever probed. For a decade or more, particle physicists have been eagerly awaiting a chance to explore that domain, sometimes called the terascale because of the energy range involved. Significant new physics is expected to occur at these energies, such as the elusive Higgs particle (believed to be responsible for imbuing other particles with mass) and the particle that constitutes the dark matter that makes up most of the material in the universe.

Physicists hope that the LHC will enhance their ability to answer the following questions:

- Is the Higgs mechanism for generating elementary particle masses in the Standard Model indeed realized in nature? If so, how many Higgs bosons are there, and what are their masses?

- Are electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force just different manifestations of a single unified force, as predicted by various Grand Unification Theories?

- Why is gravity so many orders of magnitude weaker than the other three fundamental forces?

- Is Supersymmetry realized in nature, implying that the known Standard Model particles have supersymmetric partners?

- Will the more precise measurements of the masses and decays of the quarks continue to be mutually consistent within the Standard Model?

- Why are there apparent violations of the symmetry between matter and antimatter?

- What is the nature of dark matter and dark energy?

- Are there extra dimensions, as predicted by various models inspired by string theory, and can we detect them?

  Several people are suing to try and get the LHC project cancelled. Critics have contended that the machine could produce a black hole that could consume the Earth or something equally catastrophic. Experiments with a black hole have always been considered very dangerous as it absorbs everything around itself. The electron and proton constantly aspire to merge. This is prevented by a strong shell of the proton. However, if at some point of the matter’s existence there arises something super-powerful (like extreme pressure, extreme temperature and etc, including the hadron collider), which can break the proton, then the shell around the energy hole within the proton may collapse. And then one of the electrons, which are always plentiful in the environment, gets an opportunity to return to the place, where it was once pulled out from into existence by the force of the super-vacuum. As a result, the two primary particles disappear and a micro “black hole” of absolute emptiness arises, which immediately becomes a draw for all the particles in its proximity. The full energy, which is emitted during the annihilation of a proton and electron, becomes sufficient to destroy, melt the shells of the nearby protons. Via the chain reaction the "black hole" instantly expands, sucking in all accessible matter until the continuous extent of matter is interrupted. Presented theory strictly proves that the collider experiments have a real potential to destroy the planet Earth.

   On the other hand, the USA Santa Barbara Physics Professor Steve Giddings claims that if they appear at all, these “black holes” would exist for about a nanosecond. Nature is continuously creating LHC-like collisions when much higher-energy cosmic rays collide with the Earth's atmosphere, with the Sun, and with other objects such as white dwarfs and neutron stars. If such collisions posed a danger, the consequences for Earth or these astronomical objects would have become evident already.

   However the first beam in the LHC at CERN1 was successfully steered around the full 27 kilometers on the 10 September 2008. During commissioning (without beam) of the final LHC sector, an incident occurred at mid-day on Friday 19 September resulting in a large helium leak into the tunnel. Preliminary investigations indicate that the most likely cause of the problem was a faulty electrical connection between two magnets, which probably melted at high current leading to mechanical failure. CERN’s strict safety regulations ensured that at no time was there any risk to people. Now The LHC is scheduled to start operating the following spring. Not only scientists, but all people all over the world are waiting the answer we are going to have from LHC.

4. In the text find equivalents to the phrases:

- противоположно направленные пучки протонов;

- шанс исследовать эту область;

- неуловимая частица Хиггса;

- частица, которая представляет темное вещество;

- непрерывная протяженность материи;

- предварительное расследование;

- во время ввода в эксплуатацию.

- строгие правила безопасности

 

5. Form phrases by matching the words  from 1-9 with the words  a-i:

1. accelerator  2. opposing    3. neutron       4. powerful

5. energy         6. elusive              7. nuclear     8. extreme

9. real    10. mechanical

 

a) star     b) range   c) potential        d) force e) failure  f) beams

g) microscope h) particle  i) complex            k) temperature

TALKING POINT

6. Discuss in pairs:

·  the objective of the LHC project ;

·  the opportunities for physicists with the start of LHC;

·  the appearance of tiniest black holes during the LHC operation;

· fears of the public concerning the LHC experiments;

· the discussion around the LHC project

  7. Translate the text into English.

Cуществует немало вопросов, ответы на которые могут быть найдены с помощью ускорителя БАК. Но история уже показала, что выдающиеся открытия в науке часто бывают непредсказуемы. Хотя у ученых есть представление о том, что они хотят найти с помощью БАК, природа может преподнести людям очередной сюрприз. Так или иначе, он  изменит наше миропонимание (world-view). Ускоритель БАК будет работать на основе эффекта сверхпроводимости, т.е. способности определенных материалов проводить электричество без сопротивления или потери энергии, обычно при очень низких температурах. Чтобы удержать пучок частиц на его кольцевом треке, необходимы более сильные магнитные поля, чем те, которые использовались ранее в других ускорителях ЦЕРН. Сверхпроводимость позволяет получить такие поля, но никогда ранее не строилась такая большая "сверхпроводящая" установка.

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