One of the most burning questions in the minds of many scientists is how
exactly our universe started. In Geneva, 2,500 researchers came together to
create one of the world’s largest particle colliders.
Hadron Collider (LHC) is located 100 meters under the ground in Geneva and
has a circumference of 27 km (over 16 miles). The massive LHC will be used by
researchers to probe the beginnings of our universe.
Claude Leroy, a physics professor from Université de Montréal, was one of
the scientists involved in the project and responsible for creating the ATLAS
detector used in the collider to provide a new look at the conditions that
occurred during the Big Bang and immediately following.
ATLAS is the largest of the four detectors inside the LHC and is a massive
device in its own right. ATLAS is 7,000 tons in weight, 46 meters in length,
and 25 meters in height.
Leroy conducted the radiation and irradiation studies to ensure ATLAS ran
smoothly when in operation. Leroy also created a device called MPX, which is a
small device attached throughout the LHC and ATLAS to perform real-time
measurements of the spectral characteristics and composition of radiation
inside and around the ATLAS detector. The device is said to capture images of
what’s inside the detector and its environment like neutrons and photons.
For the LHC to operate, its components must be cooled to a superconducting
state. Some components of the LHC will be cooled to minus 456 degrees
Fahrenheit by cooling the magnets with liquid helium. Parts of the ATLAS device
will be cooled with liquid argon to minus 312 Fahrenheit.
When in operation the LHC will collide two beams of particles at close to
the speed of light in an attempt to answer what the 96% of the unknown universe
is made of, why particles have mass, why nature prefers matter of antimatter,
and what lies beyond Earth’s dimension.
DailyTech reported on another of the LHCs components called the Regional
Calorimeter Trigger in February of 2006.