The Largest Experiment in a

Nutshell
September 24, 2015
U. Perez @ Philippine Science High School

In a nutshell
My little Problem

The Standard Model

CERN and BSM

Ut enim ad minim veniam,

quis nostrud exercitation

Excepteur sint occaecat

cupidatat non proident,
sunt in culpa qui officia
deserunt mollit anim id est
laborum.

Duis aute irure dolor

in reprehenderit in
voluptate velit
Esse cillum dolore eu
fugiat nulla pariatur

In a nutshell
The LHC is the largest experiment in the world and costs about 10B USD (about
500 Mind Museums)
It has accelerators that ramps up proton speeds to near the speed of light.
In four points in the LHC they collide at energies equivalent to an onrushing
locomotive.
The superconducting magnets are kept at a temperature
colder than any place in the galaxy.
All these to understand a very fundamental question:
What is the universe made of?

A very expensive eye

Increase the energy of a particle
and create heavy particles whose
lifetimes are very much less than a
second.

Object

Size

Radiation
Energy

Atom

10-10 m

0.00001 GeV

Nucleus

10-14 m

0.01 GeV

Nucleon

10-15 m

0.1 GeV

Quarks

> 1 GeV

Higgs

126 GeV

A particle can only probe down to

distances equal to the particles
wavelength. If you want to probe smaller
things, make the wavelength smaller by
increasing the particles energy.

Mass-energy Equivalence ---> PARTICLE PARTY

Accelerating Protons

Crossing Borders. LHC: a 27-km ring

This will last for years. AVOGADROs NUMBER

10PLHC Protons make over 11,000

laps in a second in the 27-km ring.

Why a collider?
Collider: p1 = -p2
Fixed-target: p1 = -p2

Not everything is
interesting
If you burn the LHC data to CDs and
stack them, youd create something twice
taller than Mount Everest.
Scientists have to sift through data. (see
video)

Analyzing Data
is a lot like playing
Wheres Waldo?

Bump = Squirrel

Discovery or not

In a nutshell:
The number of sigmas measure
how unlikely it is to get a certain
experimental result as a matter of
chance rather than just due to a
real effect. - Jason Palmer, BBC

CERN Science in a Nutshell

Smash Particles

Test Models

Understand Nature

Ut enim ad minim veniam,

quis nostrud exercitation

Excepteur sint occaecat

cupidatat non proident,
sunt in culpa qui officia
deserunt mollit anim id est
laborum.

Duis aute irure dolor

in reprehenderit in
voluptate velit
Esse cillum dolore eu
fugiat nulla pariatur

Standard Model of
Particle Physics

Not all data is interesting because

some of them we already
understand in detail.
Right now, Standard Model is one
of the most accurate theories ever
devised to explain the inner
workings of the universe.

The Known Characters of our Universe

Matter Particles
-

quarks
leptons

Force Particles (Bosons) - lumps of energy that bring matter

into life
-

photons
gluons
W/Z boson
Graviton (?)

All particles are excitations of

fields.

A cooler and less symmetric

universe.
At high enough energy, the four
fundamental forces are thought to
be identical.

Problems with the Standard Model

Naturalness

Why does the standard model require

fine-tuning? Why is the Higgs boson
light?

Hierarchy Problem

Why is there a large gap between the

strength of the gravitational force and
the other forces?

The weak force for instance is 10^32

stronger than gravity.

Problems with the Standard Model

Wheres the Graviton?

More Matter than anti-matter

How come all the other fundamental forces

have their own force particles?

Why is there more matter than anti-matter?

What caused this asymmetry?
*If not for this asymmetry, we would not be
here today.

Problems with the Standard Model

Is there more than one Higgs?
How come all the other fundamental forces
have their own force particles?

What is Dark Matter and Dark

Energy?
Why is there more matter than anti-matter?
What caused this asymmetry?
*If not for this asymmetry, we would not be
here today.

Beyond the Standard

Model (BSM)

Makes a light Higgs boson possible.

The strengths of the fundamental forces
would be the same in the early universe.
A step closer to a Grand Unified Theory.
NO EVIDENCE YET.

We dont feel the full effect of gravity because

it leaks through extradimensions.
Explains why the universe is expanding faster than
expected.
NO EVIDENCE YET.

To

Technological
Spin-offs

look for more fundamental particles, scientists

needed to figure out how they can accelerate
particles to extremely high energies. They needed
new technologies. They needed stronger magnets to
focus the beams of protons. They needed bigger
memory to handle the data that they would get from
collisions. They needed sensitive detectors in order
to take snapshots of the collision. Those needs
forced engineers, computer scientists, chemists,
basically people from outside the world of physics,
into new modes of thinking. The challenges then
spurred new technologies whose applications are
not confined in the field of particle physics.

Are there extra dimensions?:

Graviton and the Fakes

CERN Science in a bigger nutshell

Collect Data

Store and Transfer

Analyze

Ut enim ad minim veniam,

quis nostrud exercitation

Excepteur sint occaecat

cupidatat non proident,
sunt in culpa qui officia
deserunt mollit anim id est
laborum.

Duis aute irure dolor

in reprehenderit in
voluptate velit
Esse cillum dolore eu
fugiat nulla pariatur

Searched For Gravitons,

Workshops & Lectures,
CERN Webfest & a bunch
of New Friends

Witnessed firsthand how

theoretical physicists
work with
experimentalists...

And how a huge

experiment is made
possible by collaboration
by people from all over
the world.

Science IS a human endeavour.