United Press International
03-29-06
Iowa State scientists help build collider
AMES, Iowa, March 29 (UPI) -- Iowa State University physicists are helping
design massive particle detectors at the world's most powerful particle collider
being built in Europe.
The European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, Switzerland, is
building the Large Hadron Collider, a new particle accelerator that will collide
beams of protons or lead nuclei at close to the speed of light.
The Iowa State scientists say the collider is expected to create as many as 800
million particle collisions every second, recreating conditions that existed just
after the so-called big bang -- an event that many scientists theorize began the
rapid expansion and cooling of matter and created the universe.
The collisions are expected to create new particles that may help scientists
answer basic questions about the universe.
The collider is being built in a round tunnel nearly 17 miles long near Geneva. It
is expected to become operational for a pilot run during the summer of 2007.
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