Knocking on Heaven's Door - Lisa Randall [65]
Some experiments might yield results soon. Others could take many years. As data come in, theorists will be forced to revisit and sometimes even abandon suggested explanations so we can improve our theories and apply them correctly. That might sound discouraging, but it’s not as bad as you might think. We eagerly anticipate the clues that will help us answer our questions as experimental results guide our investigations and ensure that we make progress—even when new results might require abandoning old ideas. Our hypotheses are initially rooted in theoretical consistency and elegance, but, as we will see throughout this book, ultimately it is experiment—not rigid belief—that determines what is correct.
Part III:
MACHINERY, MEASUREMENTS, AND PROBABILITY
CHAPTER EIGHT
ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL
I am not one prone to overstatement, since I usually find that great events or achievements speak for themselves. This reluctance to embellish can get me into trouble in America, where people overuse superlatives so much that mere praise without an “est” at the end is sometimes misinterpreted as slander by faint praise. I’m frequently encouraged to add a few buzzwords or adverbs to my statements of support to avoid any misunderstanding. But in the case of the LHC I’ll go out on a limb and say there is no question that it’s a stupendous achievement. The LHC has an uncanny authority and beauty. The technology overwhelms.
In this chapter, we’ll embark on our exploration of this incredible machine. In the chapter that follows, we’ll enter the roller coaster construction adventure and a few chapters later, the world of the experiments that record what the LHC creates. But for the time being, we’ll focus on the machine itself, which isolates, accelerates, and collides together the energetic protons that we hope will reveal new inner worlds.
THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER
The first time I visited the LHC, I was surprised at the sense of awe it inspired—this in spite of my having visited particle colliders and detectors many times before. Its scale was simply different. We entered, put on our helmets, walked down into and through the LHC tunnel, stopped at an enormous pit into which the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) detector would ultimately be lowered, and finally arrived at the experimental apparatus itself. It was still under construction, which meant ATLAS was not yet covered up as it would be when running—but was instead on display in full view.
Although the scientist in me recoils at first in thinking of this incredibly precise technological miracle as an art project—even a major one—I couldn’t help taking out my camera and snapping away. The complexity, coherence, and magnitude, as well as the crisscrossing lines and colors, are hard to convey in words. The impression is simply awe-inspiring.
People from the art world have had similar reactions. When the art collector Francesca von Habsburg toured the site, she took along a professional photographer whose pictures were so beautiful they were published in the magazine Vanity Fair. When the filmmaker Jesse Dylan, who grew up in a world of culture, first visited the LHC, he viewed it as a remarkable art project—a “culminating achievement” whose beauty he wanted to share. Jesse embarked on a video to convey his impressions of the grandeur of the experiments and the machine.
The actor and science enthusiast Alan Alda, when moderating a panel about the LHC, likened it to one of the wonders of the ancient world. The physicist David Gross compared it to the pyramids. The engineer and entrepreneur Elon Musk—who cofounded PayPal, runs Tesla (the company that makes electric cars), and developed and operates SpaceX (which constructs rockets that will deliver machinery and products to the International Space Station)—said about the LHC, “Definitely one of humanity’s greatest achievements.”
I’ve heard such statements from people in all walks of life. The Internet, fast cars, green energy,