CERN LHC Reaches Its Goals For 2010 90
Anonymous Dupaeur writes "The goals for the first run of the most powerful particle collider (and the most energetic storage ring since ISR) were recently surpassing the 10^32 level of luminosity, with a destructive 15 MJ energy per-beam. This is a significant milestone, opening the way to collect more and more data. The current plan is to stop the proton collisions soon, and provide an ion (Pb) beam and conclude this year with a X-mass break. The next year is expected to bring at least one inverse femtobarn of data, which is achievable with such beam power. After that, the entire accelerator complex will be shut down for a year, due to budget costs for science in Europe."
NOT shutting down due to budget cuts (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Inverse!!!! (Score:3, Informative)
Ok, wow, its an actual term explaining the number collisions. From wikipedia:
The "inverse femtobarn" (fb1) is a measurement of particle collision events per femtobarn. Over a period of time, two streams of particles with a cross-sectional area, measured in femtobarns, are directed to collide.
However, an "inverse femtobarn of data" still makes no sense.
Re:Shutting down (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Inverse!!!! (Score:5, Informative)
This is my favorite bit:
10^-40 meters square = picobarn
10^-43 meters square = femtobarn
10^-46 meters square = attobarn
10^-52 meters square = shed
Re:Inverse!!!! (Score:5, Informative)
It's not really a measurement of collision events, though it is proportional to it. Think about it classically, for a beam of billiard balls, say. The number of collisions you get will be proportional to to the area of beam, the number of particles per unit area for beam 1, the same for beam 2 and the cross-sectional area of the balls. All the factors apart from the last are shoved together in the luminosity figure - which has dimensions of inverse area and the barn is a unit of area.
So the integrated luminosity (in inv. barns) * the cross-section of the process you're interested in (in barns) gives you a number.
In reality, the cross-sections don't correspond directly to physical areas (it's all quantum after all) but the principle is the same.
Re:X-mass? (Score:1, Informative)
conclude this year with a X-mass break.
Is that supposed to be some kind of punny joke?
Yes? :)
Later on they say The next year is expected to bring at least one inverse femtobarn of data. Barn is a unit of area. inverse femtobarn is collisions per that unit of area (10^-28 m. sq.) which is related to luminosity. The brighter the beam (ie, more crap in it that is focused properly) the brighter the luminosity, the more data you get.
From, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_%28unit%29
"It took Fermilab over a decade to achieve 1 /fb" (fb is femtobarn)
And yes, physics like to make these little puns everywhere. Physicists may not all like to play baseball, but you are sure to hear lots of jokes about how difficult it is to hit a round ball with a cylindrical bat such that it goes in the right direction...
Why do you think they called it a barn? To make jokes about it!!!
Why is Higg's Boson referred to as "god particle"? So it seems more important!
Puns are only thing physics have to relate to the "everyday world". Without that, you enter the strange world of a mathematician! :P
Re:Shutting down (Score:5, Informative)
The cost is too high to run next year. That is disappointing.
Bad reporting. The LHC has scheduled maintenance in 2012.
However, CERN has more accelerators than just the LHC, and those will
be shut down due to financial constraints. They don't do much cutting edge
research anyway, so the science output is largely unaffected.
Shutting down the LHC for other than technical reasons isn't planned at all.
Re:Shutting down (Score:2, Informative)
Re:NOT shutting down due to budget cuts (Score:4, Informative)