Holy Quran Discuss Universe

Quran has revealed absolute facts about Universe in its true perspective some 1400 years ago. This can be a fruit of thought for us.

Surrah Al-Mulk - THE SOVEREIGNTY - No. 67- Verse:3-4

(If you want to see how wonderfully this programme functions and how His sovereignty and protection work in absolute harmony, then take a look at the gigantic machinery of the universe.) He has made the various heavenly bodies in outer space in a way that they can maintain complete conformity (and not collide) with each other.Have a good look all around. You will not find any defect or disproportions in the creation of 'Ar-Rahman'. Not once. But look again and again and reflect deeply over it. You will not see any flaws or fissures anywhere. Nothing will be out of sequence or incomplete. verse 3


Turn your vision again towards the vastness of the universe. Do so yet again; and everytime your gaze will fall back upon you, dazzled and tired. (This is the scenario of Our universe which is working according to Our Laws. If the Divine System is introduced in your own society, you too will find such harmony, instead of chaos and disorder.) verse 4


Surrah An-Naml - THE ANT - No. 27- Verse:93

And tell them, "(You can go on opposing it to any extent, but the Divine System will be established.) This will be a living example for praise and appreciation of God. It will bring its clear signs before you in such a way that you will yourself recognize (that this is the same society, about which you were being told). (On the other hand the destruction that will befall you will be the result of your own doing, because) The Divine Law of Mukafat, knows very well all your deeds."
verse 93


Surrah Nûh - NUH - No. 71- Verse:15 &16 - 19 & 20

(You should observe the balance and harmony that is created when the Divine Laws are followed!) Do you not see how Allah Almighty the Almighty has created various celestial bodies in outer space and how they move in harmony and discipline. They remain firm in their orbits inspite of the tremendous speed with which they move. This is because they do not exist individually. The pull of one becomes a source of stability for the other and in this way the entire celestial system can continue functioning without a clash. On the contrary, visualize your own life and see how your individual interests clash with each other. verse 15


And then how (among these bodies) He has positioned the moon amongst them, as a (reflected) light and the sun as a (radiant) lamp. (But look how dark your life is. Should you also choose to follow the Divine Law, then not only would it brighten your path but you will also become a beacon for others.) verse 16


(He created you on this earth and at the same time, produced a variety of subsistence for you. Firstly) Just think of the earth which, inspite of it being spherical, He made it into a wide expanse so that you may go out wherever you like on its open and spacious paths. verse 19-20



Surrah An-Naba'-THE ANNOUNCEMENT-Verse:12-13 &17

And over your head, in the vast open space, We have distributed celestial bodies which are firm and stable. verse 12


Amongst these look at the brightly burning lamp (the Sun) and see how We have made it a simultaneous source of light and heat. verse 13


(When you see how wonderfully Our Laws operate in the outer universe, you should understand that Our Law of Mukafat is similarly functioning in your world. Therefore) It is absolutely certain that the Revolution that will sift falsehood from truth, is bound to happen. Consider it to be the day for harvesting the crop which your deeds had sown. Just like how the time for the ripening of a crop is certain and determined, the time of this Revolution is also fixed. It will occur when its predestined time comes. verse 17



Surrah Al-Furqân -THE STANDARD - No. 25- Verse:61-62

(Now who should tell them that) The God who in order to provide you natural light has in some parts in the sky placed constellations of heavenly bodies which look like chandeliers of shining stars; and at another place put a candle in the shape of sun; and the light-reflecting moon at yet another; is the same God who has provided Wahi for the guidance of human intellect and wisdom. verse 61


And that God has made arrangements in the outer universe that night and day succeed each other, and that light continues to follow darkness. (Similarly, in the human world, He has made arrangements that no nation would remain in darkness forever and that the light of Wahi should reach everyone.) Whoever wants to follow the right path in the light of Wahi should be able to do so and thus receive full reward for his efforts and deeds. verse 62


Surrah Yâ­Sîn - YA-SEEN - No. 36- Verse:38-40 & 45

Also ponder how the sun is moving unhampered in its course. All this is happening according to measures determined and set by the One Who is Almighty and all-knowing. All His Laws are based on knowledge. verse 38


And see the moon for which We have determined various stages. (It appears like a beautiful crescent and then gradually becomes the full moon, after which it starts waning till it becomes like an old date stalk, dried up and curved.) verse 39


All these huge heavenly bodies are not static in space, but are in continuous motion. However, all their movements are according to a discipline based on set measures and calculations. It can never happen that the sun, by speeding up, can overtake the moon; or that the night lingers on beyond the point where the day had to start (meaning that the sun rises little after the appointed time). No, this never happens. Each and every one of them keeps moving through space, in its own orbit, according to the speed and course set for it (21:33). verse 40


(Just as there are unchangeable Laws for things in the universe, laws are also fixed for mankind. But contrary to other things in the universe, man has been given the freedom of choice. He could, out of his free will, either obey or go against them.)Keeping this discretion in mind, they are advised to lead their lives according to the Divine Laws, so that their present life would become better; and also to adopt the same attitude for the future. In this way both your physical life as well as your own ‘self’would develop nicely. This is what is meant by the pleasantries of the present and the future.
verse 45


Surrah Ibrahîm - ABRAHAM - No. 14 - Verse:32-34

(32-34) In this way that Niz’am-e-Rabubiyyat shall be established in the human world the means for which have already been provided by Allah Almighty in the outer universe. He has created the heavens and the earth and poured rain from the skies whereby grow fruits for your subsistence. He has subjected to you the ships which sail in the seas according to His Laws and also the rivers. Also subjected to you are the sun and the moon which move in their constant courses as well as the day and the night. He has provided you with all that was necessary for your development. In short, Allah’s bounties are so numerous that it is not possible to count them.
But those who do not follow Allah’s Laws hide these bounties from others and also seize what others have. verse 32-34



Surrah Yûnus - JONAH - No. 10 - Verse: 5 & 7-10

He has designed the sun as shining glow and the moon which reflects light and appointed stages for the moon so that you may reckon time and mark the number of years. Allah Almighty has not created this otherwise than in accordance with truth (to fulfil a definite purpose according to His plans). He explains His laws clearly to a people of understanding.
verse 5


(7-10) Human beings may be divided into three categories. (1) The first two are those who have no knowledge of the universality of the laws of Allah, and (2) those who acquire this knowledge and conquer the forces of nature but believe that life is only of this world and are content with this life. The ultimate destination of those who belong to these two categories is Jahannam. The third category comprises people who believe in Allah Almighty and the life hereafter, conquer the forces of nature and utilize them for the benefit of mankind in accordance with eternal values prescribed by Allah. These people will lead the blissful life of Jannat wherein streams flow. Their lives will be a living testimony that Allah Almighty has not created the universe in vain or for destructive purposes (3/189-191). In their society each person will desire the welfare of all others. This is how they will proclaim the Hamd of Allah Almighty - the Nourisher of all humanity (1/1). verse 7-10


Surrah Ash-Shams - THE SUN - No. 91 - Verse:1-2 & 9

Consider the sun and its radiant brilliance. verse 1


The moon and its pursuit of the sun to receive its light. verse 2


(The total programme functioning in the cosmic world and human self stand testimony to the fact that) Whosoever nurtured and developed his self, did indeed attain success. verse 9


Surrah Al-Baqarah - THE COW - No.2 - Verse:116 - 117

116-117 Ask the Christians: “How can you justify your belief in Allah Almighty when you conceive Him as having a son. You have brought Allah Almighty to the level of human beings who stand in need of progeny as helpers. Nay, He is far above this concept. His is, all that is in the heavens and the earth and everything therein devoutly follows His Laws. Allah Almighty is Omnipotent and has brought such a colossal universe into existence from nothingness. His manner of creation is that when He decides to create a particular thing, the process of its coming into existence begins at once.” The possessor of such powers has no requirement for a son.
verse 116-117



Surrah Al-An'âm - THE CATTLE - No.6 - Verse:14 - 15

14-15) Ask them: “Do you want that I should take as protector and helper anyone other than Allah Almighty - Allah Almighty who has brought the entire universe into being from nothingness; who provides nourishment to all but Himself needs none.” Say: “I have been commanded to be the first of those who surrender before Allah’s laws and not to be one of the Mushrikeen. Tell them: “If I revolted against Allah’s laws, I too would be fearful of chastisement on the Day of Reckoning” (10/15, 39/13).
verse 14-15


Surrah Fussilat - EXPLAINED IN DETAIL - No.41 - Verse:11-12

In this way the Almighty turned towards the celestial bodies. At that stage they were all in the form of gas (nebula). We told them, "You must obey Our Laws willingly or perforce." They replied, "Why perforce? We shall obey these Laws most willingly.1" (3:82; 13:15)
verse 11


(As has been said above ~ in 41:9 ~ that in two stages the Almighty created celestial bodies in the form they were designed to be; and He imparted to them the physical law which they were bound to follow through Wahi (i.e. the Laws they had to follow were integrated within them). The visible space (the sky) has been adorned with scattered bodies that appear to you like shining lamps. He has made them safe and secure so that they neither clash with each other nor fall down on you. All this has been decided with measures set by that God, Who is all-powerful, all-knowing. verse 12


Surrah Al-Anbiyâ -THE PROPHETS-No.21-Verse:30 -31 & 33

(Out of their sheer ignorance some people take natural phenomena as deities or divinities. This is despite the fact the entire continuum of the universe has been created by Allah Almighty and remains fervently in action according to His given programme. At present various phenomena in the universe appear to them as functioning separately from one another, but) Do they not seriously understand that in the initial stages of creation all of them were one mass which We then parted, so that the various celestial bodies started floating in their own orbits (21:33; 36:40). (Take for example the planet earth. In its initial stages it separated from the original mass, just like a stone thrown out from a catapult ~ 79:30.) Later (when the earth became ready to bear or produce living things) We started life from water. (All living things are created from a mixture of water ~ 24:45. And over this fountain of life Allah Almighty has kept His own control ~ 11:7.)It is strange that even after all this explanation, they do not believe that only Allah Almighty wields absolute sovereignty over everything in the universe. verse 30


And We have made earth such that as it continuously revolves, people live on it undisturbed (16:15). Furthermore on it we made firm mountains (which function like water reservoirs and hold minerals for your use); and valleys and ravines which are used as passageways.
verse 31


It is Allah Almighty Who has made night and day follow each other (due to the revolution of the earth) and created the sun and the moon, each one floating through space in its own orbit. verse 33



Surrah Al-A'râf - THE HEIGHTS - No.7 - Verse:54

O Messenger! tell them that your Rabb is the One who has created the universe in six aeons and kept His control over it (10/3). In accordance with His laws, the planets revolve in such a way that day and night succeed each other in quick succession. The sun, moon and other stars also obey His orders. Take note! The domains of Khalq and Amr both belong to Allah, Who is the source of all blessings and Rabb of all the worlds. verse 54


Surrah Ash-Shûra - COUNCIL- No.42 - Verse:29

(His Laws of nature are not confined to earth. They encompass the whole universe. That is why) Among His signs are the very creation of earth and other celestial bodies, as well as other living creatures which He has spread over them. At present these habitations are separated from one another but when He so wishes, Allah Almighty The Almighty has the power to bring them together. (It is possible that creatures living on different planets can establish contact and meet with each other ~ 116:49.) verse 29

Surrah Al-Anbiyâ - THE PROPHETS - No.21 - Verse:16

(They thought that) We have created this heaven and earth and all that is in between (the universe) just for fun; an idle play. No, not at all! We have created all this for a great purpose. And the purpose is that no work would be done without producing a result, whether it involves a person or a nation. All actions will continue producing very accurate results (11:71; 45:22 ; 53:31). verse 16


Surrah Al-Jâthiya - CROUCHING - No.45 - Verse:22

They do not know that Allah Almighty has created the universe for a purpose (and not as a useless and destructive thing. The purpose is that) Every human being is fully recompensed for what he has done; and no harm is done to anyone. verse 22


Surrah Yâ­Sîn - YA-SEEN - No.36 - Verse:38-40

Also ponder how the sun is moving unhampered in its course. All this is happening according to measures determined and set by the One Who is Almighty and all-knowing. All His Laws are based on knowledge. verse 38


And see the moon for which We have determined various stages. (It appears like a beautiful crescent and then gradually becomes the full moon, after which it starts waning till it becomes like an old date stalk, dried up and curved.) verse 39


All these huge heavenly bodies are not static in space, but are in continuous motion. However, all their movements are according to a discipline based on set measures and calculations. It can never happen that the sun, by speeding up, can overtake the moon; or that the night lingers on beyond the point where the day had to start (meaning that the sun rises little after the appointed time). No, this never happens. Each and every one of them keeps moving through space, in its own orbit, according to the speed and course set for it (21:33). verse 40

Surrah Al-Anbiyâ - THE PROPHETS - No.21 - Verse:32-33

And over the earth We created an atmosphere which is safe in itself and which keeps the inhabitants protected[2] (from the destruction caused by meteors falling from above). These are all open visible signs (pointing to the reality that all physical things are working under the Divine Laws; and that no one else has any power or authority over them). Inspite of this, people insist on turning away from these facts.
verse 32


It is Allah Almighty Who has made night and day follow each other (due to the revolution of the earth) and created the sun and the moon, each one floating through space in its own orbit. verse 33


Surrah Az-Zumar - THE TROOPS - No.39 - Verse:5

He created the heavens and the earth in true and perfect proportions, to bring out positive and constrictive results. He made the earth revolve in such a manner that the night blankets the day and the day covers the night. He has made the sun and the moon subservient to His Laws. Each heavenly body follows a set course, up to a limited time. All this is happening according to the Laws of Allah, Who has absolute control and supremacy and has the provisions for protecting everything. (So why should He have a son?) verse 5


Surrah Luqmân - LUQMAN - No.31 - Verse:29

Just as your limited vision sees individuals separately and not humanity at large, you see every event on its own and not as a single, indivisible whole. For instance, you see night as one unit and day as another; but you do not reflect on how Allah's Law (of rotation) merges the night into day and the day into night. (Thus day and night become one indivisible unit.) Like the rotation of day and night, He has also subjected the sun and the moon to His Laws, each running its course for a set term (13:2). verse 29


Surrah ’Ale-Imran-THE FAMILY OF IMRAN-Verse:189-190

In the creation of the earth and the heavens and the alternation of night and day, there are signs for those gifted with understanding. These people keep Allah’s Laws in mind whilst standing, sitting or reclining. After reflecting upon the creation of the heavens and the earth, they cry out, “O our Sustainer! You have not created this Universe in vain or for destructive purposes. Your Schemes of things are much above flaw. Grant us the insight to understand the functioning of these things, so that we benefit from them and remain safe from suffering.”
verse 189-190


Surrah Ar-Rahmân - THE BENEFICENT - No.55 - Verse: 5 - 7

And for human guidance there are unchangeable laws in the Quran; just as there are laws in force in outer universe according to which (for example) the sun and the moon follow their determined orbits. verse 5


And on earth, whether they are large trees or small bushes or shrubs, everything is subjected to His Laws. verse 6


Moreover the Divine Law according to which He maintains such precise balance, mutual discipline and order amongst all heavenly bodies placed in the huge outer space was set in way that it never changes. verse 7


Surrah Az-Zâriyât -THE WINNOWING WINDS -No.51-Verse:4 7

(This is Our Law of Mukafat, under which earlier communities came to such an end. Everything in this universe is busy making the Divine Law effective. That is why) With Our power and strength We have built the universe that is spread out in the cosmos. The expanse of Our power has no boundaries. verse 47

SYMMETRY: The Thread of Reality

Symmetry may seem to be just an unimportant repetition of structure, but its influence on the scientific vision of the universe is profound. Albert Einstein based all of his revolutionary theories of physics on the principle that the universe is symmetrical-that the laws of physics are the same at each point of space and each instant of time. Because the laws of physics describe how events occurring at one place and time influence events at other places and times, this simple requirement binds the universe together into a coherent whole. Paradoxically, as Einstein discovered, it implies that we cannot sensibly talk of absolute space and time. What is observed depends upon who observes it-in ways that are governed by those same underlying symmetry principles.


It is easy to describe particular kinds of symmetry-for example, an object has reflectional symmetry if it looks the same when viewed in a mirror, and it has rotational symmetry if it looks the same when rotated. Respective examples are the external shape of the human body, and the ripples that form on a pond when you throw a stone into it. But what is symmetry itself? The best answer that we yet have is a mathematical one: Symmetry is "invariance under transformations." A transformation is a method of changing something, a rule for moving it or otherwise altering its structure. Invariance is a simpler concept; it just means that the end result looks the same as the starting point.


Rotation through some chosen angle is a transformation, and so is reflection in some chosen mirror, so these special examples of symmetry fit neatly into the general formulation. A pattern of square tiles has yet another type of symmetry. If the pattern is moved sideways (a transformation) through a distance that is a whole-number multiple of the width of a tile, then the result looks the same (is invariant). In general, the range of possible symmetry transformations is enormous, and therefore, so is the range of possible symmetrical patterns.


Over the last one hundred and fifty years, mathematicians and physicists have invented a deep and powerful "calculus of symmetry." It is known as group theory, because it deals not just with single transformations, but with whole collections of them-"groups." By applying this theory, they have been able to prove striking general facts-for example, that there are precisely seventeen different symmetry types of wallpaper pattern [Ref : Video: BB17 OU Just17] (that is, repeating patterns that fill a plane), and precisely two hundred and thirty different types of crystal symmetry. And they have also begun to use group theory to understand how the symmetries of the universe affect how nature behaves.


Throughout the natural world, we see intriguing symmetrical patterns: the spiral sweep of a snail's shell; the neatly arranged petals of a flower; the gleaming crescent of a new moon. The same patterns occur in many different settings. The spiral form of a shell recurs in the whirlpool of a hurricane and the stately rotation of a galaxy; raindrops and stars are spherical; and hamsters, herons, horses, and humans are bilaterally symmetrical.
Symmetries arise on every conceivable scale, from the innermost components of the atom to the entire universe. The four fundamental forces of nature (gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces) are now thought to be different aspects of a single unified force in a more symmetrical, high-energy universe. The "ripples at the edge of time"-irregularities in the cosmic background radiation -recently observed by the COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) satellite help to explain how an initially symmetrical big bang can create the structured universe in which we now find ourselves.

Symmetrical structures on the microscopic level are implicated in living processes. Deep within each living cell there is a structure known as the centrosome, which plays an important role in organising cell division. Inside the centrosome are two centrioles, positioned at right angles to each other. Each centriole is cylindrical, made from twenty-seven tiny tubes (microtubules) fused together along their lengths in threes, and arranged with perfect ninefold symmetry. The microtubules themselves also have an astonishing degree of symmetry; they are hollow tubes made from a perfect regular checkerboard pattern of units that contain two distinct proteins. So even at the heart of organic life we find the perfect mathematical regularities of symmetry.


There is another important aspect of symmetry.Symmetrical objects are made of innumerable copies of identical pieces, so symmetry is intimately bound up with replication. Symmetries occur in the organic world because life is a self- replicating phenomenon. The symmetries of the inorganic world have a similarly "mass produced" origin. In particular, the laws of physics are the same in all places and at all times. Moreover, if you could instantly permute all the electrons in the universe-swapping all the electrons in your brain with randomly chosen electrons in a distant star, say-it would make no difference at all. All electrons are identical, so physics is symmetrical under the interchange of electrons. The same goes for all the other fundamental particles. It is not at all clear why we live in a mass-produced universe, but it is clear that we do, and that this produces an enormous number of potential symmetries. Perhaps, as Richard Feynman once suggested, all electrons are alike because all electrons are the self-same particle, whizzing backward and forward through time. (This strange idea came to him through his invention of "Feynman diagrams"-pictures of the motions of particles in space and time. Complex interactions of many electrons and their antiparticles often form a single zigzag curve in space-time, so they can be explained in terms of a single particle moving alternately forward and backward in time. When an electron moves backward in time, it turns into its antiparticle.) Or perhaps a version of the anthropic principle is in operation: Replicating creatures (especially creatures whose own internal organisation requires stable patterns of behaviour and structure) can arise only in mass- produced universes.


How do nature's symmetrical patterns arise? They can be explained as imperfect or incomplete traces of the symmetries of the laws of physics. Potentially, the universe has an enormous amount of symmetry-its laws are invariant under all motions of space and time and all interchanges of identical particles-but in practice, an effect known as "symmetry breaking" prevents the full range of symmetries from being realised simultaneously. For example, think of a crystal, made from a huge number of identical atoms. The laws of physics look the same if you swap the atoms around or move them through space and time. The most symmetrical configuration would be one for which all of the atoms are in the same place, but this is not physically realisable, because atoms cannot overlap. So some of the symmetry is "broken," or removed, by changing the configuration into one in which the atoms are displaced just enough to allow them to stay separate. The mathematical point is that the physically unrealisable state has a huge amount of symmetry, not all of which need be broken to separate out the atoms. So it is not surprising that some of that symmetry is still present in the state that actually occurs. This is where the symmetry of a crystal lattice comes from: the huge but unseen symmetries of the potential, broken by the requirements of the actual.


This insight has far-reaching consequences. It implies that when studying a scientific problem, we must consider not only what does happen, but what might have happened instead. It may seem perverse to increase the range of problems by thinking about things that don't happen, but situating the actual event inside a cloud of potential events has two advantages. First, we can then ask the question "Why does this particular behaviour occur?"-because implicitly, this question also asks why the remaining possibilities did not, and that means we have to think about all the possibilities that don't occur as well as the ones that do. For instance, we can't explain why pigs don't have wings without implicitly thinking about what would happen if they did. Second, the set of potential events may possess extra structure-such as symmetry-that is not visible in the lone state that is actually observed. For example, we might ask why the surface of a pond is flat (in the absence of wind or currents). We will not find the answer by studying flat ponds alone. Instead, we must disturb the surface of the pond, exploring the space of all potential ponds, to see what drives the surface back to flatness. In that way, we will discover that nonflat surfaces have more energy, and that frictional forces slowly dissipate the excess, driving the pond back to its minimal energy configuration, which is flat. As it happens, a flat surface has a lot of symmetry, and this, too, can best be explained by thinking about the "space" of all possible surfaces.



This, to me, is the deepest message of symmetry. Symmetry, by its very definition, is about what would happen to the universe if it were changed-transformed. Suppose every electron in your head were to be swapped with one in the burning core of the star Sirius. Suppose pigs had wings. Suppose the surfaces of ponds were shaped like Henry Moore sculptures. Nobody intends to perform actual experiments, but just thinking about the possibilities reveals fundamental aspects of the natural world. So the prosaic observation that there are patterns in the universe forces us to view reality as just one possible state of the universe from among an infinite range of potential states-a slender thread of the actual winding through the space of the potential.
BY-:Ian S.

Large Hadron Collider

Large Hadron Collider
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"LHC" redirects here. For other uses, see LHC (disambiguation).
This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Coordinates: 46°14′N 06°03′E / 46.233, 6.05
Large Hadron Collider
(LHC)
The accelerator chain of the Large Hadron Collider
LHC experiments
ATLAS A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS
CMS Compact Muon Solenoid
LHCb LHC-beauty
ALICE A Large Ion Collider Experiment
TOTEM Total Cross Section, Elastic Scattering and Diffraction Dissociation
LHCf LHC-forward
LHC preaccelerators
p and Pb Linear accelerators for protons (Linac 2) and Lead (Linac 3)
(not marked) Proton Synchrotron Booster
PS Proton Synchrotron
SPS Super Proton Synchrotron
Hadron Colliders
Intersecting Storage Rings CERN, 1971–1984
Super Proton Synchrotron CERN, 1981–1984
ISABELLE BNL, cancelled in 1983
Tevatron Fermilab, 1987–2009
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider BNL, operational since 2000
Superconducting Super Collider Cancelled in 1993
Large Hadron Collider CERN, 2008–
Very Large Hadron Collider Theoretical

Map of the Large Hadron Collider at CERNThe Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of protons with very high kinetic energy. Its main purpose is to explore the validity and limitations of the Standard Model, the current theoretical picture for particle physics. It is theorized that the collider will confirm the existence of the Higgs boson, the observation of which could confirm the predictions and missing links in the Standard Model, and could explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass.

The LHC was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and lies underneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. It is funded by and built in collaboration with over eight thousand physicists from over eighty-five countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories. The LHC is already operational and is presently in the process of being prepared for collisions. The first beams were circulated through the collider on 10 September 2008, and the first high-energy collisions are planned to take place after the LHC is officially unveiled on 21 October.

Although a few individuals have questioned the safety of the planned experiments in the media and through the courts, the consensus in the scientific community is that there is no conceivable threat from the LHC particle collisions.

Contents [hide]
1 Design
1.1 Detectors
2 Purpose
2.1 Research
2.2 As an ion collider
3 Test timeline
3.1 September 2008
3.2 October 2008
4 Proposed upgrade
5 Cost
6 Computing resources
7 Safety issues
7.1 Safety of particle collisions
7.2 Operational safety
7.3 Construction accidents and delays
8 In popular culture
9 References
10 External links



Design
The LHC is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator.[1] The collider is contained in a circular tunnel, with a circumference of 27 kilometres (17 mi), at a depth ranging from 50 to 175 metres underground.[2] The 3.8-metre (150 in.) diameter, concrete-lined tunnel, constructed between 1983 and 1988, was formerly used to house the Large Electron-Positron Collider.[3] It crosses the border between Switzerland and France at four points, but most of it is in France. Surface buildings hold ancillary equipment such as compressors, ventilation equipment, control electronics and refrigeration plants.

The collider tunnel contains two adjacent parallel beam pipes that intersect at four points, each containing a proton beam, which travel in opposite directions around the ring. Some 1,232 dipole magnets keep the beams on their circular path, while an additional 392 quadrupole magnets are used to keep the beams focused, in order to maximize the chances of interaction between the particles in the four intersection points, where the two beams will cross. In total, over 1,600 superconducting magnets are installed, with most weighing over 27 tonnes. Approximately 96 tonnes of liquid helium is needed to keep the magnets at their operating temperature of 1.9 K, making the LHC the largest cryogenic facility in the world at liquid helium temperature.[4]


Superconducting quadrupole electromagnets are used to direct the beams to four intersection points, where interactions between protons will take place.Once or twice a day, as the protons are accelerated from 450 GeV to 7 TeV, the field of the superconducting dipole magnets will be increased from 0.54 to 8.3 T. The protons will each have an energy of 7 TeV, giving a total collision energy of 14 TeV (2.2 μJ). At this energy the protons have a Lorentz factor of about 7,500 and move at about 99.999999% of light speed. It will take less than 90 microseconds for a proton to travel once around the main ring – a speed of about 11,000 revolutions per second. Rather than continuous beams, the protons will be bunched together, into 2,808 bunches, so that interactions between the two beams will take place at discrete intervals never shorter than 25 ns apart. When the collider is first commissioned, it will be operated with fewer bunches, to give a bunch crossing interval of 75 ns. The number of bunches will later be increased to give a final bunch crossing interval of 25 ns.[5]

Prior to being injected into the main accelerator, the particles are prepared by a series of systems that successively increase their energy. The first system is the linear particle accelerator Linac 2 generating 50 MeV protons, which feeds the Proton Synchrotron Booster. There the protons are accelerated to 1.4 GeV and injected into the Proton Synchrotron (PS), where they are accelerated to 26 GeV. Finally the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) is used to further increase their energy to 450 GeV before they are at last injected (over a period of 20 minutes) into the main ring. Here the proton bunches are accumulated, accelerated (over a period of 20 minutes) to their peak 7 TeV energy, and finally stored for 10 to 24 hours while collisions occur at the four intersection points.[6]

The LHC will also be used to collide lead (Pb) heavy ions with a collision energy of 1,150 TeV. The Pb ions will be first accelerated by the linear accelerator Linac 3, and the Low-Energy Injector Ring will be used as an ion storage and cooler unit. The ions then will be further accelerated by the PS and SPS before being injected into LHC ring, where they will reach an energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon.


Detectors

The Large Hadron Collider's (LHC) CMS detectors being installed.Six detectors are being constructed at the LHC, located underground in large caverns excavated at the LHC's intersection points. Two of them, the ATLAS experiment and the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS), are large, general purpose particle detectors.[1] "A Large Ion Collider Experiment" (ALICE) is designed to study the properties of quark-gluon plasma from the debris of heavy-ion collisions. The other three, LHCb, TOTEM, and LHCf, are smaller and more specialized. The BBC's summary of the detectors is:[7]

ATLAS – one of two so-called general purpose detectors. Atlas will be used to look for signs of new physics, including the origins of mass and extra dimensions.

CMS – the other general purpose detector will, like ATLAS, hunt for the Higgs boson and look for clues to the nature of dark matter.

ALICE – will study a "liquid" form of matter called quark-gluon plasma that existed shortly after the Big Bang.

LHCb – equal amounts of matter and antimatter were created in the Big Bang. LHCb will try to investigate what happened to the "missing" anti-matter.


Purpose

A Feynman diagram of one way the Higgs boson may be produced at the LHC. Here, two quarks each emit a W or Z boson, which combine to make a neutral Higgs.
A simulated event in the CMS detector, featuring the appearance of the Higgs boson.When activated, it is theorized that the collider will produce the elusive Higgs boson. The verification of the existence of the Higgs boson would be a significant step in the search for a Grand Unified Theory, which seeks to unify three of the four known fundamental forces: electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force, leaving out only gravity. The Higgs boson may also help to explain why gravitation is so weak compared with the other three forces. In addition to the Higgs boson, other theorized particles, models and states might be produced, and for some searches are planned, including supersymmetric particles,[8] compositeness (technicolor),[9] extra dimensions,[10] strangelets,[11] micro black holes and magnetic monopoles.[12][13]


Research
When in operation, about seven thousand scientists from eighty countries will have access to the LHC. Physicists hope to use the collider to test various grand unified theories and enhance their ability to answer the following questions:

Is the popular Higgs mechanism for generating elementary particle masses in the Standard Model realised in nature? If so, how many Higgs bosons are there, and what are their masses?[14]
Will the more precise measurements of the masses of the quarks continue to be mutually consistent within the Standard Model?
Do particles have supersymmetric ("SUSY") partners?[1]
Why are there apparent violations of the symmetry between matter and antimatter?[1] See also CP-violation.
Are there extra dimensions, as predicted by various models inspired by string theory, and can we "see" them?
What is the nature of dark matter and dark energy?[1]
Why is gravity so many orders of magnitude weaker than the other three fundamental forces?
Renowned British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has bet against the mega-experiment finding the elusive Higgs particle. "I think it will be much more exciting if we don't find the Higgs. That will show something is wrong, and we need to think again. I have a bet of $100 that we won't find the Higgs," Hawking speculated, but the experiment could discover superpartners, particles that would be supersymmetric partners to particles already known. "Their existence would be a key confirmation of string theory, and they could make up the mysterious dark matter that holds galaxies together. Whatever the LHC finds, or fails to find, the results will tell us a lot about the structure of the universe," he said.[15]


As an ion collider
The LHC physics program is mainly based on proton–proton collisions. However, shorter running periods, typically one month per year, with heavy-ion collisions are included in the programme. While lighter ions are considered as well, the baseline scheme deals with lead ions.[16] This will allow an advancement in the experimental programme currently in progress at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).


Test timeline

September 2008
The first beam was circulated through the collider on the morning of 10 September 2008.[17] CERN successfully fired the protons around the tunnel in stages, three kilometres at a time. The particles were fired in a clockwise direction into the accelerator and successfully steered around it at 10:28 am local time.[18] The LHC successfully completed its first major test: after a series of trial runs, two white dots flashed on a computer screen showing the protons traveled the full length of the collider. It took less than one hour to guide the stream of particles around its inaugural circuit.[19] CERN next successfully sent a beam of protons in a counterclockwise direction at 14:59.


October 2008
The first high-energy collisions are planned to take place after the LHC is officially unveiled on 21 October 2008.[20]


Proposed upgrade

CMS detector for LHCMain article: Super Large Hadron Collider
After some years of running, any particle physics experiment typically begins to suffer from diminishing returns; each additional year of operation discovers less than the year before. The way around the diminishing returns is to upgrade the experiment, either in energy or in luminosity. A luminosity upgrade of the LHC, called the Super LHC, has been proposed,[21] to be made after ten years of LHC operation. The optimal path for the LHC luminosity upgrade includes an increase in the beam current (i.e., the number of protons in the beams) and the modification of the two high-luminosity interaction regions, ATLAS and CMS. To achieve these increases, the energy of the beams at the point that they are injected into the (Super) LHC should also be increased to 1 TeV. This will require an upgrade of the full pre-injector system, the needed changes in the Super Proton Synchrotron being the most expensive.


Cost
The total cost of the project is anticipated to be €3.2–6.4 billion.[1] The construction of LHC was approved in 1995 with a budget of 2.6 billion Swiss francs (€1.6 billion), with another 210 million francs (€140 million) towards the cost of the experiments. However, cost over-runs, estimated in a major review in 2001 at around 480 million francs (€300 million) for the accelerator, and 50 million francs (€30 million) for the experiments, along with a reduction in CERN's budget, pushed the completion date from 2005 to April 2007.[22] The superconducting magnets were responsible for 180 million francs (€120 million) of the cost increase. There were also engineering difficulties encountered while building the underground cavern for the Compact Muon Solenoid, in part due to faulty parts loaned to CERN by fellow laboratories Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab.[23]

David King, the former Chief Scientific Officer for the United Kingdom, has criticised the LHC for taking a higher priority for funds than solving the Earth's major challenges; principally climate change, but also population growth and poverty in Africa.[24]


Computing resources
The LHC Computing Grid is being constructed to handle the massive amounts of data produced by the Large Hadron Collider. It incorporates both private fiber optic cable links and existing high-speed portions of the public Internet, enabling data transfer from CERN to academic institutions around the world.

The distributed computing project LHC@home was started to support the construction and calibration of the LHC. The project uses the BOINC platform to simulate how particles will travel in the tunnel. With this information, the scientists will be able to determine how the magnets should be calibrated to gain the most stable "orbit" of the beams in the ring.


Safety issues

Safety of particle collisions
Main article: Safety of the Large Hadron Collider
Although some individuals, including scientists, have questioned the safety of the planned experiments in the media and through the courts, the consensus in the scientific community is that there is no basis for any conceivable threat from the LHC particle collisions.[25][26][27]


Operational safety
The size of the LHC constitutes an exceptional engineering challenge with unique operational issues on account of the huge energy stored in the magnets and the beams.[6][28] While operating, the total energy stored in the magnets is 10 GJ (equivalent to 2.4 tons of TNT) and the total energy carried by the two beams reaches 724 MJ.[29]

Loss of only one ten-millionth part (10−7) of the beam is sufficient to quench a superconducting magnet, while the beam dump must absorb an energy equivalent to that of a typical air-dropped bomb. These immense energies are even more impressive considering how little matter is carrying it: under nominal operating conditions (2,808 bunches per beam, 1.15×1011 protons per bunch), the beam pipes contain 1.0×10-9 gram of hydrogen, which, in standard conditions for temperature and pressure, would fill the volume of one grain of fine sand.


Construction accidents and delays
On 25 October 2005, a technician was killed in the LHC tunnel when a crane load was accidentally dropped.[30] On 27 March 2007 a cryogenic magnet support broke during a pressure test involving one of the LHC's inner triplet (focusing quadrupole) magnet assemblies, provided by Fermilab and KEK. No one was injured. Fermilab director Pier Oddone stated "In this case we are dumbfounded that we missed some very simple balance of forces". This fault had been present in the original design, and remained during four engineering reviews over the following years.[31] Analysis revealed that its design, made as thin as possible for better insulation, was not strong enough to withstand the forces generated during pressure testing. Details are available in a statement from Fermilab, with which CERN is in agreement.[32][33] Repairing the broken magnet and reinforcing the eight identical assemblies used by LHC delayed the startup date,[34] then planned for November 2007, by several weeks.