September 16 - On Sept. 10 CERN -- the European Organization for Nuclear Research -- successfully steered a beam of particles around the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, which was built to help scientists resolve some key questions in particle physics and has the potential to revolutionize human understanding of the known universe.
The Large Hadron Collider is currently running six experiments, and some of the results that scientists hope for include identification of the particle that makes up dark matter; signs of the existence of extra dimensions; and evidence of a particle known as the Higgs boson, which is responsible for generating the masses of the particles in the Standard Model.
Two reports from the National Academies discuss the scientific promise of particle accelerators. Connecting Quarks With the Cosmos: Eleven Science Questions for the New Century describes the importance of technologies like particle accelerators, which can provide answers to the many questions surrounding the creation of the universe. Revealing the Hidden Nature of Space and Time: Charting the Course for Elementary Particle Physics recommends that the United States assume a leadership position in the design, management, and funding of the International Linear Collider, an electron-proton particle accelerator currently in technical design phase, which will work in tandem with the Large Hadron Collider, a proton-proton collider.
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