Gravitational or inertial mass gain in cern ?

[Alex_P]

Hi,

I have been reading about CERN for a while and found amazing - amongst many other things - the fact that hadrons in the LHC turn some of their energy to mass after having reached the maximum possible speed. However this statement was not clear enough. I was wondering whether the mass they gained was their Inertial or their Active Gravitational. Do they really get heavier or is it just an increase of their inertia?

Thank you in advance,
Alex

 

[.Scott]

It's real mass. The result of E=mc^2 or m=Ec^-2.
As they approach the speed of light, the affect is enormous.

 

[mfb]

They increase their inertia, that is sure and easy to see. The active gravitational mass is far too small to measure it. According to GR, their energy is a contribution to active gravitational mass (in our lab frame), but the gravitational effect of moving masses is more complicated than a simple increase in mass.

the fact that hadrons in the LHC turn some of their energy to mass

They don't turn something into something else. In collisions, a fraction of their energy is used to create new particles.

after having reached the maximum possible speed

That does not happen, but they are very close to the speed of light (some km/h away from it).

 

[Alex_P]

Thank you for your replies! You 've both been most informative!

after having reached the maximum possible speed

That does not happen, but they are very close to the speed of light (some km/h away from it).

I meant the hadron's maximum possible speed which is of course less than the speed of light.

 

[PJC01]

Hello Alex,

Thank you for your interest in CERN and its research. The concept of mass gaining at high speeds is a fascinating one and has been studied extensively at CERN. To answer your question, when hadrons, such as protons, reach nearly the speed of light in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), they do indeed gain mass. This is due to the energy-mass equivalence principle, famously described by Einstein's equation E=mc². This means that as the hadrons gain energy, their mass also increases. This is known as the inertial mass gain.

However, it is important to note that this increase in mass is not the same as an increase in gravitational mass. Inertial mass is a measure of an object's resistance to acceleration, while gravitational mass is a measure of an object's gravitational pull. The two are not necessarily equivalent and have different effects on an object's behavior.

At CERN, scientists are primarily interested in the inertial mass gain of hadrons because it affects their trajectory and interactions with other particles in the collider. This phenomenon has been well-documented and confirmed through experiments at CERN. So, to answer your question, the hadrons do get heavier due to an increase in their inertial mass, but this does not necessarily affect their gravitational mass.

I hope this helps clarify your question. Keep exploring and learning about the exciting research happening at CERN!

Best,