BAD. A look from the inside

A few years ago I had no idea what the LHC, the Higgs boson and why thousands of scientists around the world working in great physical campus on the border of Switzerland and France, digging into the earth billions of dollars.
Then, for me, like many other people in the world, it has become commonplace expression of the Large Hadron Collider, the knowledge of facing it at the speed of light elementary particles and one of the greatest discoveries of the last time - the Higgs boson.
And here, in the middle of June, I had the chance to see what many say and what is haunting so many contradictory rumors.
And it was not just a short tour and a full day in the world's biggest nuclear physics laboratory - CERN. Here we were able to, and communicate with the very physical scientists, and see a lot of interest in this scientific campus, to descend into the holy of holies - the Large Hadron Collider (and in fact when it is running and there are tested, any external access to it is not possible) , to visit the factory for the production of giant magnets for the collider, in the heart of Atlas, where scientists analyze the data obtained in the collider, secretly visit the newest being built a linear collider and even, almost like a quest, practically walk along the thorny path of elementary particles, by the end of to top. And see where it all begins ...
But all of this in a separate post. Today, just the Large Hadron Collider.
40 Photo © C. Anashkevich





2. Many years ago, this image has become world famous. Many believe that this is the Large Hadron sectional. In fact, this section of one of the biggest detectors - CMS. Its diameter is about 15 meters. It's not the biggest detector. Atlas-diameter and about 22 meters.



3. To understand about what it is all about and how big collider, look at a satellite map.
It is a suburb of Geneva, not far from Lake Geneva. It was here that a huge campus is based at CERN, which I will talk about later separately and under the ground at different depths is a bunch of colliders. Yes Yes. He is not alone. Their ten. Large Hadron just crowned this structure, figuratively speaking, completing the chain collider, which accelerates elementary particles. This, too, I'll tell apart, having passed along to the particle from the Great (LHC) to the first line Linac.
The diameter of the ring LHC is nearly 27 kilometers and it lies at a depth of just over 100 meters (the highest figure in the ring).
The LHC has four detectors - Alice, Atlas, LHCb and CMS. We descended to the detector CMS.



4. In addition to the four detectors, all the rest of the space under the ground is a tunnel, which is uninterrupted from the gut like these blue segments. This magnets. Giant magnets in which the magnetic field created by a crazy, in which move at the speed of light elementary particles.
A total of 1734.



5. Inside the magnet is a just such a complex structure. Here the mass of all but the most basic - two hollow tubes inside, which fly proton beams.
In four places (in those same detectors) these tubes intersect and collide proton beams. In those places where they face the protons are scattered on different particles, which are fixed detectors.
This in a nutshell saying that this nonsense is and how it works.



6. So, June 14 morning, CERN. We come to the unobtrusive fence with a gate and a small building on the site.
This is the entrance to one of the four detectors of the Large Hadron Collider - CMS.
Here I want to stay for a bit to talk about how we all managed to get here, and thanks to whom.
And the whole "blame" Andrew snoop58, our man who works at CERN, and by which our visit was not some boring tour short and incredibly interesting and filled with a huge amount of information.
Andrew (he's green T-shirt) never against guests and is happy to contribute to visit this Mecca of nuclear physics.
You know what's interesting? This bandwidth mode and Collider at CERN in general.
Yes, all of the magnetic card, but ... Officer his pass has access to 95% of the territory and objects.
And only those where an increased level of radiation hazard, special access is needed - it is inside the collider.
And so - no problem employees move within the territory.
In a moment - it is invested billions of dollars and a lot of the incredible equipment.
And then I think of some abandoned facilities in the Crimea, where all long nafig cut, but nevertheless, all megasekretno, shoot in any case impossible, and God knows what kind of a strategic object.
Just think people here are adequate head.



7. It looks territory CMS. No you boast in the exterior and a super-wheelbarrows in the parking lot. But it can not afford. Just no reason.



8. CERN is the world's leading research center in the field of physics, uses several different directions in terms of PR. One of them - the so-called «Tree».
Within its framework, invited school teachers in Physics from different countries and cities. They are show and tell. Then the teachers return to their schools and tell students about what they saw. For a number of students, inspired by the story begin with great interest to study physics and then go to universities on the physical profession and in the future, maybe even get to work here.
But as long as the children are still in school, they also have the chance to visit CERN and, of course, go down to the Large Hadron Collider.
Several times a month there are special "open days" for gifted children from different countries, in love with physics.
They selected the very teachers who are at the heart of the tree and submit proposals to the office at CERN in Switzerland.
Coincidentally, on the day when we arrived to see the Large Hadron Collider, here came one of these groups from the Ukraine - children, students of Small Academy of Sciences, past a difficult contest. Together with them, we went down to 100 meters depth, in the heart of the Collider



9. Praise our badges-passes.
Required elements of physicists working here - the helmet with a flashlight and shoes with a metal plate on the toe (the fall to protect the cargo toes)



10. Gifted Children, enthusiastic physics. A few minutes later fulfilled their place - they went down into the Large Hadron Collider



11. The play dominoes rest before the next change of underground



12. Control and control center CMS. This flock primary data from the main sensor characterizing the functioning of the system.
During operation of the collider, this clock has a team of 8 people.



13. I must say that at the moment the Large Hadron stopped for two years for the program repair and modernization of the collider.
The fact that four years ago it an accident, after which the LHC has not operated at full capacity (about the accident, I tell you in the next post).
After modernization, which will end in 2014, it should work on even more power.
If the collider is now working, to visit him, we would not have managed to



14. At a special technical elevator we go down to a depth of over 100 meters, where the Collider.
Elevator is the only way to save personnel in case of emergency, as there are no stairs. That is the safest place in the CMS.
According to the instructions, in case of an alarm, all personnel must immediately be sent to the elevator.
This creates excess pressure in the event of smoke smoke got inside and people were poisoned.



5. Boris lazy_zooropa experiencing that there is no smoke



16. depth. Here, everything is permeated by communications



17. The endless kilometers of wires and cables for data transmission



18. There are a huge number of pipes. The so-called cryogenics. The fact that the magnets inside the cooling helium. You also need other cooling systems and hydraulics.



19. The data processing rooms disposed in the detector is located a great number of servers.
They are united in the so-called triggers incredible performance.
For example, the first flip-flop of 3 milliseconds of the 40 million event will select 400 and transfer them to the second trigger - the highest level.



20. Fiber madness.
Computer rooms are located above the detector, as is very small magnetic field does not prevent the electronics.
In the detector data collection is not possible.



21. The global trigger. It consists of 200 computers



22. What's the Apple? Dell !!!



23. Racks securely locked



24. Funny drawing on one of the operator workstations.



25. At the end of 2012 in the Large Hadron Collider in the experiment did was open the Higgs Boson, and the event was widely celebrated CERN employees.
Bottles of champagne after the celebration is not thrown on purpose, considering that this is only the beginning of great things



26. On the approach to the detector itself everywhere signs warning of radiation hazard



27. All employees have personal dosimeters Collider, which they are required to bring to the reader and to fix its location.
Dosimeter stores the radiation level in the case of approaching the boundary dose, inform the employee, as well as on-line transfers the data to the control, warning that the collider is about a man who is in danger



28. Before the detector system is the highest level of access.
Sign can attach a personal card, monitor, and passed retinal scan



29. What do I do



30. And here it is - the detector. A slight stinging inside - it's something like a drill chuck, which houses the huge magnets which now seemed to be quite small. Currently there are no magnets, since passes modernization



31. In operation the detector is connected and looks like a single entity



32. Weight detector - 15 thousand tons. This creates an incredible force of the magnetic field.



33. Compare the size of the detector with the people and technicians working at the bottom of



34. Cable blue - food, red - the data



35. Interestingly, while the Large Hadron consumes 180 megawatts of electricity per hour.



36. Current work on the maintenance sensors



37. Numerous sensors



38. power to him ... back to back fiber



39. A look incredibly intelligent man.



40. One and a half hours of flying under the ground, as the five-minute ... Go back to the mortal earth, could not help think ... how to do it.
And why they do it ...



Source:

Tags

See also

New and interesting