Despite the fact that probably every modern person who is at least a little interested in science and, in particular, physics, has heard about CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), there are quite a lot of interesting and even frightening legends around this complex. For example, it has not yet been possible to find out why their logo is three sixes facing each other, which, as you know, represent the famous "number of the beast", that is, Satan, there are still rumors that their location , officially listed on all world resources, is only a cover, and real research takes place in a completely different area. It is still worth starting with official, publicly available information about this organization.

General information

CERN is located, exactly, on the Swiss-French border, not far from Geneva. The territory of the complex consists of two sites, which are classified as the main ones. There are also smaller laboratories, offices, warehouses, halls, living quarters, and so on. All this was built in order to gather under the "one roof" the leading minds of the planet. The most famous accelerator complex, where the Large Hadron Collider is located, is located both on the surface and at a depth of up to one hundred meters.

The agreement related to the formation of CERN was signed in Paris in early July 1953. The signing ceremony was attended by representatives of 12 European states. At present, the number of countries has grown to 20. In addition, some countries, even without official membership, may have observer status behind them. About 2,500 people work at CERN on a permanent basis. In addition, there is information about 8,000 physicists and engineers who were part of the organization before that working in various institutes and universities around the globe. The annual contribution to CERN from a member country is about $990 million. Despite the fact that Russia does not have a membership in CERN, it financed about 3% of the total amount for the construction of the accelerator. These funds are allocated from the budgets of the Ministry of Education and Science and the Innovation Agency. If these funds went into domestic development, then it would be possible to purchase everything that future scientists need at the moment.

13 facts about the Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (hereinafter referred to as the LHC) is an accelerator of charged particles in colliding beams. The LHC is built at CERN and is one of the inventions that scientists hope to unlock the secret of the universe.

1) In 2010, the discovery of protons with a total energy of 7 TeV took place, as a result of which the temperature inside the collider became several times higher than on the surface of the Sun.

2) The idea to create a LHC appeared in the mid-80s of the last century, but the project was approved only ten years later, and construction began in 2001.

3) Many scientists are still confident that with the help of the LHC they will be able to discover the fact of the creation of the Universe, and after that (some people really think so) to build a time machine.

4) In order to track particles in the LHC, unique digital detectors are used that can record up to 600 million frames per second.

5) At the moment and at least for the next century, the LHC will be the most complex device of those invented by man

6) Over 50,000 specialists have been involved in the work on the collider.

7) As a result of the collision of particles, such a large amount of energy is released that a temperature of over -273 degrees Celsius is used to extinguish it.

8) In theory, if a black hole appears as a result of the actions of the collider (LHC skeptics adhere to this idea), then it will first absorb all the matter around it, and then it will collapse, “eating” itself.

9) The project is rumored to have cost approximately 3 billion euros and another 700 million for various experiments.

10) The Large Collider is called because of its ring, which is over 26 kilometers long. Hadron - due to the process of accelerating hadrons inside. Collider - from the English word "collide" - collide.

11) It is assumed that the unit will be able to serve humanity for another 4-5 years, after which it will become unusable.

12) The LHC is located at a depth of more than 100 meters.

13) In fact, the LHC is the largest existing experimental facility in the world.

CERN in Literature

Scientists from CERN became, as you know, the main characters of the bestseller "Angels and Demons", written by the writer Dan Brown, who wrote The Da Vinci Code. In the story, after the death of the Pope, a series of crimes take place that no one can explain. At this moment, the Large Hadron Collider is launched at CERN, one of the main scientists is brutally killed and the container with the extracted antimatter is stolen.

The murdered scientist was seriously engaged in physics, but he believed in God and wanted to prove that religion and science are the same concepts. Antimatter was supposed to serve as an explanation of the nature of the deity.

Sacrifices and Praises of Shiva

Not so long ago, an internal investigation into a rather non-standard incident has already begun at CERN. A publication appeared on the network, which depicts the ritual of alleged sacrifice. The ceremony was filmed again ostensibly by accident. It depicts people in black robes, who pulled their hoods over their faces and gradually line up at the monument, and a certain woman in white robes lies down in the center.

One of the participants raises a knife over her, but the author did not record the moment of the “murder”, as he runs away, accompanying all this with curses. The CERN management commented on the video itself a little later, calling it another joke from scientists. The thing is that every year up to a thousand different specialists come to the organization, therefore, according to the administration, their humor can sometimes go too far.

CERN representatives urged the public not to take everything they see online so close to heart.

Some skeptics have doubted that such a “justification” has anything to do with the truth, because CERN is often accused of having Freemasons, the Illuminati, and even Satanists working on their base. Therefore, such sacrifices for secret organizations are not something supernatural.

Nikolay Ofitserov

Once upon a time, when the war had just ended, European physicists advocated the creation of a single European laboratory for experimental research. The idea was not only to gather and unite the best minds of the continent, but also to share the ever-increasing budgets among the participating countries. This is how the European Council for Nuclear Research (FR. Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucleaire) or abbreviated CERN (CERN). They decided to build a laboratory near Geneva, especially since the inhabitants of the Geneva canton were not against it. A lot has been said about CERN recently in connection with the construction of the insanely expensive and high-tech Hadron Collider. Many feared that during the operation of the accelerator a small black hole would appear and swallow our part of the Milky Way, or that the result of one of the experiments would be the appearance of antimatter, which would immediately annihilate in a powerful explosion. Nevertheless, the collider has been successfully operating for many months and has almost reached its goal - it is highly likely that scientists have recorded the long-sought Higgs boson. In what conditions do the best physicists in Europe work, what do they eat and how do they spend their free time? I will try to tell about this, based on a walk I took in the company of my cousin, who is currently working at CERN.

You can get from Geneva to CERN by tram - you need to get off at the last stop. The tram route has two branches. The main thing is not to make a mistake and choose the right one. A one-way ticket costs 3.5 Swiss francs (approximately 2.90 euros or 117 rubles). The name CERN has become so common and familiar that even at bus stops it is written in lower case letters. I decided that from now on I will also write like this - "Cern".

These trams run from Geneva. It is very inconvenient to drive to the city by car - there are paid parking lots, as well as traffic jams and traffic lights at every turn.

Cern is located on the border of Switzerland and France, near the Swiss town of Meyrin ( Meyrin). Some of the buildings are also located on the French side, next to the city of Prevessant Moen ( Prevessin-Moens). Local residents may well cross the border between the two countries several times a day - border guards appear rarely, if at all.

Nice landscapes in the vicinity of Cern.

The first thing you notice when you get off the tram are five multi-colored bins for separate waste collection (for paper, glass, aluminum, plastic and other waste). Although no, you are still the first to notice the symbol of Cern - Ball or the globe (The Globe) made of wood.

At night, the Ball is beautifully illuminated.

A free exhibition is open inside, which tells about the entertaining world of elementary particles.

The whole space is filled with luminous balls - these are either tactile screens or egg-shaped chairs with built-in speakers. You can sit, relax and listen to a story about supersymmetry or string theory.

Across the road from Shar is the main site of the nuclear research center. Everything here is extremely open, and despite the fact that badge holders are usually allowed to enter, in fact anyone can come and walk around the territory, not only outside, but also inside the buildings. At the end of this post, I will give you some tips to help you organize your own tour of Cern.

Let's start our walk from the patio of the main dining room. In the summer, it should be very pleasant to have breakfast here with a view of the snow-capped peaks and breathe in the fresh alpine air.

I will show you the dining room a little later, when we go to dinner with nuclear physicists, but for now I want to show examples of breakfasts at CERN. Coffee, yogurt, bun - about 6.5 francs (5.4 euros or 218 rubles). Expensive, as everywhere in Switzerland. Although one must understand that they also earn more here than in neighboring countries.

Coffee, yogurt, banana, cereal with milk - about 8 francs (6.6 euros or 268 rubles).

Everywhere there are blue pipes, symbolizing particle accelerators.

Solar fountain. A large, rectangular photocell must be twisted, turning towards the sun. When the illumination reaches a certain threshold, a yellow ball in a transparent tube rises up on a jet of water. In my case, the autumn sun was not enough.

Original lanterns and Jura massif ( Jura) in the background (hence the name Jurassic).

There is practically no one in CERN on Saturday morning, so it is very convenient to walk around the territory - no one interferes, no one pays attention to the camera. True, the sensations are peculiar - as if you suddenly found yourself in an extinct city, like Pripyat. Empty streets, empty buildings, as if they had survived a man-made disaster. The old blinds on the windows creak and click in the wind. In general, you understand - the walk turned out to be very atmospheric.

The cousin, of course, had a Cern badge. At some point we were passing by a large hangar, and at the entrance I noticed a panel for applying a badge. For fun, I decided to try to open the door, and we were all sure that nothing would come of it. But no, the door opened and I was able to take an exclusive photo of the secret warehouse. Another manifestation of Cern's policy of openness and publicity? This, of course, is great, but what if attackers decide to get here?

In fact, there are enough dangerous rooms in CERN, and it is not in vain that serious research is being done here. Some employees constantly walk with personal dosimeters, as they work in conditions of increased background radiation. There are also special stands where you can rent a dosimeter.

It is believed that the first web server was launched at CERN by the English scientist Tim Berners-Lee. Tim came up with and brought to life the basic principles of the World Wide Web: identifiers URI(in particular Internet addresses - URL), protocol http and language HTML.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research was founded in 1954 by a dozen countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Yugoslavia). Later Austria, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria joined. Most of the money in CERN is invested by the trio Germany-France-Great Britain.

CERN has its own fleet of cars with a blue logo.

In addition, employees can rent bicycles from any of the automated parking lots, such as those found in Paris, Strasbourg and many other European cities. Some employees even try to storm the local mountains on these city bikes.

CERN reminded me very much of a university campus. Here, too, there are a huge number of different clubs and associations, from basketball and dancing to yoga, yachting, croquet and scuba diving. The table tennis circle is trying to attract people with the help of famous physicists - Heisenberg, Otto Frisch and Niels Bohr, who allegedly adored this sport.

In the classrooms, just like in my university, films are shown in the evenings, for example, “Ghost” by Roman Polanski.

Even sexual minorities have formed an association for themselves. In Russia, this is unimaginable, but in Europe it has long shocked no one.

CERN logo made from leaves post it. Usually such "tasks" are given to interns who have nothing to do.

Let's now take a look at the premises of the science center. We will not linger for a long time at the main entrance, so as not to annoy the eyes of the locals once again. Let's just pay attention to the unusual, perforated ceiling.

Let's take a look at the main auditorium. It was here that a seminar was held in July of this year, at which physicists presented preliminary results of experiments. ATLAS and CMS. Scientists have found signs of a new particle with a mass of 125 GeV with a statistical significance of 5 sigma. Everything suggests that a completely new boson has been found, and the heaviest of all known so far. The existence of such a boson was predicted by the English scientist Peter Higgs already in 1964, and now everything goes to the fact that it was the Higgs boson that was detected in the Large Hadron Collider. People have been queuing since the evening to try to get to the seminar the next morning. After five in the morning the hall was already full.

Clippings from various newspapers, telling about the discovery of the "particle of God", which is responsible for the masses of all elementary particles of the Standard Model.

Cernov corridors do not shine with modern design solutions.

Wooden doors and fireproof cabinets with archives at times are very reminiscent of Soviet ones.

Secret plan of the building.

I suspected that CERN had its own terrible secrets! It turns out that the ancient god Cthulhu is hiding in the underground rooms, about which there was a lot of talk in Runet at one time.

An example of a typical door to the office of one of the CERN employees. In this case, it's Sarah Pamlard, who works in Finance and Purchasing.

A huge number of apple stickers suggests that there are a lot of Apple fans in the science center.

A snapshot of the secret documents of the Cern programmers.

But what programmers use is by no means beer, but cocoa frey, tea Twinings, Tetley and Lipton.

The theme of drinks smoothly takes us to canteen number 1 (sounds like in the USSR again). One of the most interesting moments of the excursion is to see where and what the leading European physicists eat.

The dining room provides for self-service - you take a tray and serve yourself whatever your heart desires. Hot meals can be ordered at the door. At the end, you go through the cashier, pay, and then choose a table for yourself in one of the halls. At the end of the working day, you can afford a glass (or maybe a jug) of draft beer cardinal or a glass of wine.

I photographed examples of dinner at Cern. Pancakes with mushrooms and ham, artichoke bottoms with peas, farm yogurt, fruit salad, a glass of Cardinal. About 15 francs (12 euros, 500 rubles).

Pollack fillet, grilled tomato, french fries, tea. About 11 francs (9 euros, 370 rubles).

And again saithe fillet, risotto, tea. Every day there is a choice of three main courses (one vegetarian), a special dish of the day, grilled meats, pasta and pizza. Most choice at lunch.

At the end of the meal, the tray should be taken to a special conveyor. Plastic corks are sorted separately.

There is a monitor hanging in the dining room, which broadcasts the main data on the operation of the collider. You can monitor his activity in real time, without interrupting work even in the dining room.

In general, it is quite possible to live in CERN. There is a shop and ATMs, and late at night you can always buy sausages, ham or instant rice in one of the machines. Nearby are vending machines selling essentials - toothpaste, cotton swabs, sanitary napkins, etc.

Summing up the tour, I can say that CERN reminded me of a large student campus where people live, work, eat and relax at the same time. I really liked the atmosphere of openness and goodwill, a little less - dilapidated and "soviet" some of the interiors. However, do not forget that the first buildings in CERN were built back in the fifties of the last century.

Lastly, it is worth mentioning The Large Hadron Collider(TANK). Each word in the title has a specific meaning. "Large" indicates the size of the accelerator - 26 kilometers in length, 8 kilometers in diameter. "Hadronic" indicates the type of accelerated particles - hadrons, that is, heavy particles consisting of quarks. "Collider" - because particle beams are accelerated in opposite directions, and then collide. The LHC is located directly below Cern, on the border of Switzerland and France. My hotel was very close, so you can say that I slept right above the collider. Unforgettable feelings - more precisely, they are not at all.

As promised, I want to give some advice to those who want to visit CERN:

As I already wrote, everything is very open here, and getting into the territory is not at all difficult. However, it is better not to look like typical tourists, hide your camera at the entrance and walk confidently forward.
- The best option is to enlist the help of one of the CERN employees. He will guide you through the secondary entrance with a badge, show you all the interesting things of the center (for example, the sign of Cthulhu or the server room) and help you not get lost in the intricacies of the corridors.
- More than 800 Russians work in CERN, many of whom are undergraduate and graduate students, so finding a guide should not be difficult. Well-known blogger Ilya Varlamov, for example, used the services snoop58 .
- Saturday is a good time to visit Cern. On this day, there is almost no one here, so you can safely walk and take pictures everywhere.
- If you get to Cern on a weekday, it is better to come in the morning. Employees arrive at work in a continuous stream, so no one checks for a badge. You can safely enter through the main entrance.
- Be sure to visit the local canteen, because this is one of the most interesting moments. Entrance is free, at the box office you can pay in francs or euros. Take a tray, choose your food and sit down at any table. You can communicate in English - this is the main language of Cern, as there are a lot of foreigners here.
- Avoid days when conferences, seminars and similar events are held at CERN. There will be more people, security will be stricter, and it will not be possible to pass everywhere unhindered.
- The collider is currently ongoing, so it will not be possible to visit it. But in 2013 it will be closed for repairs and modernization, so it is likely that excursions will be started there.

And most importantly: beware of Cthulhu and black holes.

Swiss sketches:

Part one. What is CERN, and what is it eaten with.

The French name Сonseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire, from where its abbreviated designation was formed.

Later on, to 12 countries that signed the agreement on the creation of CERN, and Yugoslavia, which was originally a member of the organization, left this union in 1961. In January 2014, Israel became the last full member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, becoming the 21st, the first new member since 1999, and the only non-continental member of CERN.

CERN is located in the vicinity of Geneva, on the border of Switzerland and France. Its territory consists of several sites, the two main ones are located near the Swiss town of Meyrin and near the French Prevesant Moen. The infrastructure of the institution consists of laboratories, work rooms, technical and industrial premises, canteens, conference rooms, residential buildings, as well as an accelerator complex and cryogenic systems for cooling magnets.

The most important tool for the study of charged particles are accelerators. Several of them have been built at CERN. The CERN Accelerator Complex is a sequence of linear and ring installations for accelerating protons and heavy elementary particles-hadrons to speeds comparable to the speed of light. The last link in this chain is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which was first launched in 2008. With the help of a powerful accelerator, nuclear physicists are trying to reproduce the physical processes occurring in the space environment.

The main direction of CERN research is particle physics - the study of the main components of matter and the forces acting between them. Along with fundamental tasks, CERN laboratories conduct applied research in various fields of science - medicine, pharmaceuticals, energy, high technology, and many others.

In recent years, many high-profile discoveries have been made in the laboratories of the scientific center, one of which is the discovery of a structureless particle - the Higgs boson. The CERN laboratories also developed the World Wide Web (WWW), as well as the HTTP protocol and the HTML language. New software is constantly being released there, most of which is distributed among computer and Internet users.

The main achievement of CERN, as the leaders of the institution themselves believe, is the colossal work to attract valuable scientific personnel, as well as the unification of almost all physicists from around the world.

About 10,000 scientists and engineers from 113 countries use CERN's high-tech experimental equipment.

More than 2,400 people work at CERN on a permanent basis.

The European Center for Nuclear Research is also known as a training center for scientific personnel. Schools have been created on its basis, where students and young graduate students can improve their knowledge in the study of particle physics, accelerator physics and computer technology.

In 2013, the European Organization for Nuclear Research was awarded the Niels Bohr Gold Medal, a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) award.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is an international particle physics research organization based in Switzerland, founded in 1954. CERN built the first particle accelerator - the synchrocyclotron, the Large Electron-Positron Collider and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator.

Scientists of the center made a number of major discoveries in the field of elementary particle physics: they discovered W- and Z-bosons, and for the first time obtained an antihydrogen atom. And in 2013 at CERN, as a result of a series of experiments at the LHC, the Higgs boson was discovered - an elementary particle, due to which, according to the Standard Model, the entire mass of the Universe is actually created.

In addition to discoveries in the field of physics, CERN became famous for the fact that the World Wide Web hypertext project was proposed within its walls. The English scientist Tim Berners-Lee and the Belgian scientist Robert Cailliau, working independently, proposed in 1989 a project to link documents through hypertext links to facilitate the exchange of information between groups of researchers involved in large experiments at the LEP collider.

Initially, the project was used only in the CERN intranet. In 1991, Berners-Lee created the world's first web server, website, and browser. However, the World Wide Web only becomes truly global when the URI, HTTP, and HTML specifications have been written and published.

On April 30, 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free for all users.

CERN is part of the large Grid project EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE) and develops its own Grid services. This is done by a special department associated with the collider - LHC Computing Grid.

CERN is one of two Internet exchange points in Switzerland CINP (CERN Internet Exchange Point).

CERN builds and uses its own distribution of the Linux operating system, Scientific Linux.

2019

Agreement on scientific and technical cooperation with NUST MISIS

In April 2019, an agreement was signed on scientific and technical cooperation in the field of high energy physics and other areas of mutual interest between the government of the Russian Federation and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). One of the first significant events within the framework of this cooperation will be the presentation of diplomas to graduates of the unique joint educational program of NUST MISiS and CERN "Perspective solutions, technologies, methods and materials for the search for new physical effects." The best graduates will receive an invitation to NUST MISIS postgraduate studies and an internship at CERN with the possibility of further employment.

The work of NUST MISIS in the projects of the European Organization for Nuclear Research began in 2015, and in 2017 a cooperation agreement was signed between the university and CERN. Currently, the university is an active member of the LHCb collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as well as the SHiP collaboration at the SPS accelerator.

In 2018, NUST MISIS launched an interdisciplinary educational program jointly with CERN at the crossroads of high energy physics, materials science and data science. The main goal of the course is to train young specialists to develop promising technologies and materials for the search for new physical effects in CERN experiments. Scientists from the European Organization for Nuclear Research and partner universities were invited to conduct classes: the University of Zurich, the University of Naples, the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, Imperial College London, etc. Some of the students have already begun joint scientific work with them outside the course.

2016

Russian scientists begin designing the most massive part of the new CERN experiment

The European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN, Geneva) is preparing a new experiment - SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles). The purpose of the new experiment is to search for three possible fundamental particles - heavy neutral leptons (Heavy Neutral Leptons, HNL), also called Majorana neutrinos. The introduction of these particles into the Standard Model of elementary particle physics will make it possible to describe the existence of dark matter, as well as the absence of antimatter in the Universe.

The task of NUST MISIS engineers is to create and calculate the optimal model of the decay volume chamber. In addition, they will need to work out several variants of the decay chamber, differing both in design and materials, and in the pressure inside the chamber.

According to NUST MISIS Rector Alevtina Chernikova, “an international team is working on the new experimental facility, including 41 scientific organizations from 16 countries. NUST MISIS joined the SHiP project in 2015 as an expert on superconducting magnets and various types of alloys and steels used in the construction of the SHiP system, as well as one of the main participants in the design and implementation of the engineering part of the project.”

The decay volume chamber is a conical tube with inner and outer skins. The design of the chamber shell consists of several hundred cells, each of which has 6 internal surfaces. NUST MISIS engineers carried out a series of calculations and simulations of the structure and load conditions, which resulted in the selection of a certain grade of steel and aluminum alloy as the material, as well as the optimal dimensions and geometry of the experimental facility's structural elements.

“In the designed decay chamber, the main “events” of the experiment will take place, which will need to be tracked - the potential emergence of new particles. The chamber is a very massive object - 45 meters long and 10 meters high in the maximum section, - said Sergey Albul, head of the NUST MISIS working group. – The specificity of the SHiP experiment imposes a number of criteria and limitations. The main difficulty lies in the fact that, along with ensuring sufficient strength, rigidity and vibration resistance of such a critical structure, it is necessary to minimize the amount of chamber material to reduce disturbances during the registration of emerging particles, taking into account, of course, the cost of the material.”

Ministry of Education and Science: Russia will not become an associate member of CERN until 2017

Russia will not be able to become an associate member of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN, CERN) until 2017, since the conditions for cooperation between the two parties need to be finalized, Sergei Salikhov, director of the Department of Science and Technology of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, told TASS in April 2016.

“Until the end of the year, definitely not. I think that this is a question for next year, - he answered the question of journalists about the timing of Russia's admission to CERN associate members. “For the time being, negotiations are underway with the Foreign Ministry and with CERN regarding the conditions that our foreign policy department considers necessary, those changes that need to be made to this agreement.”

Thus, the amount of deductions that Russia will make to the budget of CERN, after becoming its associate member, requires additional coordination. At the same time, Salikhov noted that the country is already making a "significant contribution" to the experiments conducted by the center.

Rdiger Voss, representative of the CERN International Relations Department, explained to journalists that associate membership in the European Center for Nuclear Research entails certain privileges and responsibilities, which are mainly financial. At the same time, the country will take part in the management of the center and will be able to participate in tenders.

“We will be able to do business directly with the Russian industry, especially in industries such as hi-tech and areas that we are particularly interested in, such as the electrical industry, electronics, computers,” Voss emphasized.

Russia applied to become an associate member of CERN in December 2012, although the history of bilateral relations dates back to Soviet times. Today, Russia is a CERN observer country, which gives its representatives the right to attend the meetings of the center.

CERN members are 21 states, whose contributions form the basis of the center's budget. Serbia, Turkey and Pakistan are associate members and pay only a fraction of the full fee.

Cyprus accepted to CERN

On April 1, the Republic of Cyprus became an associate member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Associate membership in the preliminary stage allows the Republic of Cyprus to participate in the meetings of the CERN Council, entitles Cypriot scientists to become CERN staff, and Cypriot industry to bid on CERN contracts, which opens up opportunities for industrial cooperation in the field of advanced technologies. CERN also notes that Cypriot scientists have taken part in experiments at the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP).

Collider, Higgs boson and me

Attempts by a simple layman, such as me, for example, to understand the scale of the solar system, to accept for themselves the presence of billions of other galaxies are usually futile. The news about the discovery of the Higgs boson, about the operation of the Large Hadron Collider are read voraciously, but the meaning of these things is incomprehensible to most of us.

We usually care about much more pressing things: how to get married on this planet, whether to buy those beautiful completely alien sandals, how to properly fry an octopus, etc. In an attempt to do lessons with a child in physics, you suffer a shameful fiasco. And when you find yourself in the Center for Nuclear Physics Research at CERN, near Geneva, you have to strain your brains to understand what those who are able to think about black holes and dark matter are doing in this underground laboratory.

I confess that the day before I watched a video on the net called "The Buck" (Large Hadron Collider) for dummies", "What is the Higgs boson in simple terms." Smiling boys in glasses, having fun, told what they thought were simple things - well, is it really incomprehensible what this is all about? My brother, scoffing at my attempts to take an introductory course in nuclear physics, decided to come to the rescue:

So the Higgs boson. Olya, have you ever wondered why you don't fall into the Universe while sitting on the couch?
- Honestly? No. Such thoughts did not come.
- But in vain. After all, between you and the sofa there is a space in which the electrons of your body are repelled from the electrons of the sofa. The Higgs boson interacts with many elements of particles and gives them mass.

In response, I tried to make a smart face and feel the work of the particles with my whole body. For the sake of perseverance, looking ahead, I’ll say that after visiting CERN, I figured out the subject.

WHAT IS CERN?

CERN is the European Center for Nuclear Research, an organization with 21 members. Any state, if desired, can join CERN subject to certain conditions, the main of which is research funding. The CERN budget allocated for the work of accelerators and laboratory experiments of scientists is in the billions of francs. By the way, for comparison, this is only two-thirds of the budget of the Medical University of Geneva. Russia is not a member of CERN, but our country helped in the construction of the LHC - the Large Hadron Collider.

In return, our country received the right to attend meetings, participate in the councils of scientists, but without the right to vote on a variety of issues. In the abbreviation of the word CERN - there is the word "Nuclear". Unwittingly, bad associations arise, but in fact this word should be understood in the most direct way: “The nucleus” is the center of the atom. CERN is closely studying its structure, its constituent particles. All this is called particle physics. Here are engaged in the science of experiments that try to prove theories.

• TRY TO REALIZE: Absolutely everything in our world consists of nuclei.

​

CERN employs 2500 people - technical workers, system administrators, lawyers, service personnel. There are only 70 nuclear physicists in official positions. But CERN collaborates with more than 12,000 scientists around the world, many of whom are paid as laboratory workers. The work is structured in such a way that any scientist can remain in an official position at his university, and come to CERN for just a few days, weeks or months - it all depends on the size of the project. The turnover of nuclear physicists at CERNE seems to be Brownian motion (I remember this from school). Physicists come and go, about a thousand specialists from all over the world are constantly in the center.

CERN is a small town of scientists outside of Geneva. The city of physicists has its own means of transportation - a linear bus. There are 4 restaurants on the territory, there is a hotel that can accommodate 900 people. But only those who can explain the laws of attraction with a smile can stop in it - that is, only physicists from the countries participating in the collaboration.

CERN has its own fire brigade and hospital. It's not that it's dangerous to work here, but doctors monitor the health of workers and carefully care for those who knocked over a cup of hot coffee or suffer from migraines caused by an equation that does not converge. There is a post office, and a kindergarten, and a bank, and even a travel agency - you also need to rest from thinking about the Universe, there is also a library and shops. There is even a ski club, which has a large number of members. Well, of course, interest clubs, for example, even LGBT parties and classical music concerts are held at CERN.

• ORANGE-FACT
  CERN has 100,000 computers. But this is still not enough and the information is transmitted around the world to other physicists. The exchange of information was the biggest problem of scientists until recently, and in haste they invented the World Wide Web - the Internet. The first server, browser and website was created in 1991 here at CERN by Briton Tim Berners-Lee.

​​

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF CERN?

CERN does not produce electricity, does not sell it around large companies, does not manufacture military equipment. All this is prohibited by the CERN convention. How can his employees guarantee that any of their research will not be used in the military industry?! In order to avoid demagogy on this topic, each study is posted on the net and is available for reading to anyone completely free of charge. So that nothing has strategic value.

The first and main mission is to improve the knowledge of mankind. The second is to bring together hundreds of scientists around the world in a framework of cooperation. What is being researched at CERN cannot be done alone. CERN is open to young professionals who have just completed their degree and have no professional experience. CERNE also teaches. Every year more than 500 students are educated in physics, engineering, technology and international law.

WHAT IS TANK - LARGE HADRON COLLIDER?

About the fact that on the border of two countries - Switzerland and France built a huge 127 kilometers large hadron collider, we all heard from the news. Well, at least they read about him in Dan Brown's books. It turned out that CERN has been chasing protons through pipes for decades. The first collider, the nuclear accelerator has already been retired. It was called the synchrophasotron in a simple word, and it began its work already in 1959.

The first collider - synchrophasotron
Collider of the latest generation - large and hadron, lies in a ring with a diameter of 27 km at a depth of more than 100 meters. This is the largest device on the planet. The collider is no more than 4 meters wide, but in a complex system of tunnels, scientists use powerful magnets to accelerate particles clockwise and counterclockwise with two beams. A vacuum is created inside. The magnetic field inside the collider is 200,000 times stronger than the Earth's field.

Large Hadron Collider
All the way to 27 km, one particle travels 11,000 times in 1 second! The wires and cables of the collider are no more than 1 mm in diameter. If ordinary wires were used in the accelerator, they would instantly melt and evaporate. Therefore, all processes inside the accelerator occur at a temperature of - 271 degrees Celsius. And this is the coldest place in all neighboring galaxies!

• ORANGE-FACT

  One of the four detectors in which particle collisions occur is called the Atlas. It is much larger than the collider - 25 meters high and 50 meters long. This thing is 7 times bigger than the Eiffel Tower. Since the detectors did not fit into the tunnel, huge niches were made for them underground.

HOW DOES A COLLIDER WORK?

Imagine two apples slowly rolling across the table towards each other. They will collide, stop, roll a little to the side, without causing any harm to each other. If you increase the speed of the apples, when they collide, they will change trajectories, and possibly rumple their sides. If you increase the strength, then the apples will turn into puree, and the juice will scatter in different directions. This is the third level of interaction. The fourth will require a huge amount of energy. And anything can happen to apples - they can turn into bananas, strawberries or scatter into hundreds of other apples. This is how the main formula of physics in action sounds in practice - energy changes matter. E=MC2. It is within the framework of this formula that collisions of energies occur inside the collider. First, the accelerator accelerates particles (well, say, apples), then for collision and interaction through a loop they are driven into detectors - there are only 4 of them. This is the culmination of research. This is how scientists discovered the Higgs boson particle in 2012.

Detector
Inside the collider are 18 million sensors, it's like a camera with 18 million pixels that take 600 million pictures per second. This creates a picture of space. 4 experiments usually give 1 million gigabytes of information. Out of a million, CERN chooses just one particle interaction for detailed study. To understand the probability from which the Higgs boson was caught, you need to imagine that this is one win out of six million lotteries, drawing prizes every second.

Moment of particle interaction in the detector
In addition to the collider, CERN has a large number of experimental devices that help scientists confirm or refute their theories. Physics usually gets in the way of our research, CERN employees joke.

WHERE DID IT ALL START?

Usually in science there are two types of people - theorist and practitioner. The theorist submits ideas or theories, and the practitioner tries to confirm or refute them. It all started with Democritus, in the times of the previous our era, he was already sure that everything around consists of small particles, which he called the Greek word - atomos. It took many centuries to prove his theories before, in the 14th century, scientists were able to figure out that an atom is a particle that can be split and a nucleus and electrons can be seen inside it. And a little later, already at the end of the XIV century, physicists proved that the nucleus itself also consists of particles - protons and neutrons. A pair of clever Belgians in the mid-20th century, and then Peter Higgs, suggested the existence of a hitherto elusive particle called a boson. It took 48 years to prove the existence, she became the 13th in a row. It is even strange that the boson is called the "divine particle".

Higgs boson field
In the 60s it became clear that all protons and neutrons also have a center. Now CERN is trying to prove in practice that particles also have internal nuclei. And they are also working on the search for antimatter, the big bang theory. Only scientists recreate it in such small quantities to conduct research on particles that exist for a very short time, and then decay into millions of other particles. And after all, each has an antiparticle, consisting of anticathodes - well, just a nuclear Looking Glass.

• ORANGE-TIP from CERN staff
  If you meet the anti-self, don't shake hands! When two oppositely charged particles meet, they produce 100% of the energy. It sounds, it would seem, unconvincing. But to understand the consequences of such a meeting, know that if you combine 1 gram of matter and 1 gram of antimatter, then there will be enough energy to erase Geneva from the face of the Earth.

CERN is trying to find antimatter, antiparticles and any anti. They hang not in grams, of course, but in very, very small quantities. They are meticulously created, carefully compared with others, observed, looking to see if there is any difference between them that made matter stay and antimatter disappear. CERN even conducts experiments on a space station - they are looking for an anti-fugitive in the Universe.

• TRY TO UNDERSTAND: When you look around you, you see matter. Where did the antimatter go? Nobody knows this yet. The matter that we know and see covers only 5% of the entire galaxy. And what 95% are made of is a complete mystery. Is it dark matter, is it dark energy. Theories are many.

I'm sure most of the ideas for Hollywood blockbuster scripts like Interstellar come from the minds of those who've been on the CERN tour. When you listen to the stories of scientists, fantasy-cosmic deviations begin in creative people. “We know that the energy that binds protons and neutrons did not do this before,” says one of the physicists, “and the universe was like a soup in which all particles floated independently of each other, like in plasma. Something to think about, why did this energy begin to hold them together?"

Radiation at CERN is within normal limits. During a tour of the campus, the dose that can be received is comparable to that which pilots are exposed to on a Geneva - New York flight and back. It's more dangerous to work as a ski instructor in the Alps than at CERN. However, every employee who has access to the units is required to wear a dosimeter. For three winter months, the work of the collider is stopped - electricity in Switzerland in winter costs three times more. During a technical shutdown, all collider systems are checked.

• TRY TO REALIZE: Light from distant galaxies can reach the earth when they no longer exist.

PANIC DEVELOPMENT

The joy of discovering the last missing particle in the Standard Model, the Higgs boson, has been overshadowed by the pessimistic statements of some physicists. If the proven mass of the particle is exactly as claimed. Then the universe must be the size of a soccer ball. Theorists will have to work hard and put forward other ideas why the universe is vast. Some did not fail to speculate - the artificial production of particles, some scientists argued, could cause an uncontrolled chain reaction that would cause a "black hole" that would swallow all life. But even if such a scenario does not happen, the Universe may actually burst like a soap bubble, turning into a cold silent void.

An alternative theory of physicists suggests that if everything around is riddled with Higgs bosons, then everything around is unstable and can be swept to hell by some kind of cosmic accident. Rather, along with the devils. But if the mass of the particle were different, everything would be all right with our Universe. This opinion, for example, is shared by Stephen Hawking in his book. He warns scientists that such experiments can cause (no, not Satan) but a miniature "black hole", which, however, will swallow the planet Earth. CERN was even sued to the European Court of Human Rights by German professor Otto Resler demanding to stop dark experiments. But CERN representatives assured the judge and the public that even if a black hole were formed, its existence would last less than one thousandth of a second. And during this time, it seems that she should not quickly deal with everything that exists.

• ORANGE-FACT
  CERN, by an interesting coincidence, is built exactly in the place where the ancient Romans built a temple in honor of Apollo. The name of the local village Poilly comes from the Roman "Appolliacum". People who lived in ancient times near the temple believed that it was here that the gates to the underworld were located.

WHAT IS THE USE OF THIS RESEARCH?

Research scientists improve numerous areas of human life. For example, proton beams, which were invented at CERN, are now used to kill cancer cells. Using a particle detector, you can examine an object from the inside without opening it. With the help of satellites, CERN staff analyze thousands of images before and after the earthquake to give more information to those who study natural phenomena. These are just a few examples of how discoveries in nuclear physics provide ideas for innovative technologies used by man in a variety of fields.

True, sometimes, looking at electrons and protons, flying off into black holes with their thoughts, scientists do not think about simple things. On the eve of my visit, a forest ferret tried to gnaw through the wires of the LHC high-voltage electrical transformer located on the surface, causing a short circuit. Having received an electric shock of 66 kB, the animal, to put it mildly, suffered greatly. If you do not think about what blew him to atoms.

"Unfortunately, the LHC has not had a very good week," CERN spokesman Arnaud Marsolier summed up the incident. But the ferret didn't have a week either. I would like to believe that he died in the name of science and antimatter, over which minds at CERN are now beating.

HOW TO GET TO CERN?

Anyone can learn the secrets of the Universe and for free. The main rule is to pre-register for a tour on the CERN website www.home.cern. During a tour of the European Center for Nuclear Research, tourists are told about the history of CERN and the creation of the Large Hadron Collider. After the tour, you need to go down to the MICROCOSM Museum, where you can ask the virtual employees of the center about their work at CERN, and then look into the Globe Pavilion, which is located across the street from the main entrance. Tours are conducted in French and English.

HOW TO GET TO CERN?

By tram number 18 from the center to the final stop.

Photo: CERN unless otherwise noted.