What is Collider: Definition and 72 Discussions

A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators.
Colliders are used as a research tool in particle physics by accelerating particles to very high kinetic energy and letting them impact other particles. Analysis of the byproducts of these collisions gives scientists good evidence of the structure of the subatomic world and the laws of nature governing it. These may become apparent only at high energies and for tiny periods of time, and therefore may be hard or impossible to study in other ways.

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  1. Isopod

    A CDF measures W mass higher than predicted

    The team has found that the particle, known as a W boson, is more massive than the theories predicted. The result has been described as "shocking" by Prof David Tobak, who is the project co-spokesperson. The discovery could lead to the development of a new, more complete theory of how the...
  2. ohwilleke

    I How powerful would a collider have to be to observe a sphaleron?

    Sphaleron interactions are the only interactions in the Standard Model of Particle Physics that violate the separate conservation of baryon number and lepton number at very high energies, although they still conserve baryon number minus lepton number (B-L). Even at the LHC we haven't actually...
  3. A

    A SLC Asymmetry: Measuring A_LR with Unpolarized Beam

    Hello everybody! I have a question regarding the measure of the asymmetry left-right (##A_{LR}##) at the SLC. Since the beam was not fully polarized the measured asymmetry is different from the theoretical one. The relation which I have found on papers and books is: $$A_{LR}^{measured} =...
  4. Wrichik Basu

    CERN's Next Mega Collider - A live event from the RI

    Quoting the Royal Institution YouTube channel: The link to the video: Time is 7pm GMT.
  5. A

    B Collider in Space? LHC Possibilities Beyond Earth

    What could change if a collider like LHC would be built and made function in Earth's orbit or on another planet like Mars?
  6. E

    I Computing QED amplitudes in a collider

    Hi there, While reviewing the theory of Feynman diagrams for QED, a question came into my mind. In the textbooks, one usually deals with processes involving two incoming particles. But I could imagine a process where four particles are interacting (e.g. attached picture) and this can give a...
  7. mfb

    I LHC finishes proton-proton collisions in 2018

    New year, new thread! Here was 2017. Yesterday the first beams this year circulated in the LHC. As every year, the machine operators start with a single low intensity bunch, checking that everything still works properly, and adjusting some parameters where the conditions changed over the winter...
  8. A

    B How fast are the the protons in the large Hadron collider?

    Hi, I was asking how fast is the fastest Hadron ever moved in the large Hadron collider.And most importantly how do they calculate it? Do the calculate it mathematically or with a detector?
  9. D

    Stargazing Programable telescope that will point to any spot on Earth?

    Is there a programmable telescope that will point to any spot on Earth from my location that I could simply plug in the latitude and longitude and it would point at the location anywhere on Earth. For instance, if I wanted it to point at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), could I just plug in the...
  10. P

    B Bose–Einstein condensate and Hadron Collider

    Just out of curiosity I was wondering what would happen if a Bose-Einstein condensate were placed in a Hadron Collider. Is it even possible?
  11. Beanyboy

    B Is the Large Hadron Collider large?

    Or, is that that the hadrons are large? Or, are they both large? What exactly is the adjective "large" qualifying please? I do know that the tunnel is very large indeed, and that this is the most sophisticated machine ever built.
  12. K

    I Has Large Hadron Collider shown Higgs conformal invariance

    the higgs naturalness problems has several solutions 1- natural susy 2- technicolor 3- extra dimensions 4- conformal invariance Large Hadron Collider has to date strongly disfavored susy, technicolor, extra dimensions. it is highly unlikely susy is the answer to the higgs hierarchy problem...
  13. C

    B Is Naturalness Dead? The Quest for Answers Through China's Great Collider

    I read the following interesting article about the Great Collider in China. Could the $10 Billion Great Collider become reality as the main adviser Arkani-Hamed main purpose of it is to find Naturalness? It's like him telling China "LHC didn't find naturalness, could you construct the $10...
  14. N

    I Determining Ion Speed in a Farnsworth Fusion Ion Collider

    I'm looking to figure out how fast ions are traveling in the fusor I have access to. The chamber is roughly 12-14" long, with a central electrode charged to 75 kV and 5 mA. Is the type of ion relevant? What would I have to do to figure out how fast the ions are moving?
  15. K

    Is a Small Space Hadron Collider More Efficient than a Large One?

    It's to my understanding that the Large Hadron Collider is so 'large' due to the fact E=MC^2 and that when the accelerated particles approach the speed of light their mass increases logarithmic to a near infinite mass, meaning the magnetic force applied to the particle, to stop it from touching...
  16. J

    Calculate muon speed after collision

    Homework Statement Two equal energy photons collide head on and annihilate each other, producing a u+, u- pair. The two particles have equal mass, about 207 times the electron mass. A) Calculate the maximum wavelength of the photons for this to occur. B) If the wavelength calculated in A) is...
  17. Math Amateur

    MHB What Will the Restarted Large Hadron Collider Uncover About Dark Matter?

    Large Hadron Collider is restarting ... wonder what will be discovered ... particles somehow related to dark matter ... and other wonders ... Cern restarts Large Hadron Collider with mission to make scientific history | Science | The Guardian Peter
  18. R

    Collider Luminosity Calculation

    Homework Statement A collider has an average electron current of 10 milliAmps and an average positron current of 5 milliAmps.If the ring radius is 100 m and there is one electron bunch and one positron bunch with uniform density, radius 1 µ and length 2 mm, what is the average luminosity in...
  19. V

    Dark Matter & WIMPs: Why Not Detected in Colliders?

    If we assume that Dark Matter consists (or their fraction) of new particles, WIMPs. Why they aren't detected in colliders? I am beginner in a field of DM. Would you recommend some literature? Thank you all.
  20. K

    Entangled Particles and the Hadron Collider?

    If one was to entangle two particles and either send the two particles at each other, or send one of the entangled particles and observe the other; what do you think might happen? If there are any problems with getting an entangled particle into the Hadron Collider, please say so.
  21. T

    What would happen if I was standing in the LHC

    What would happen if I was standing in the LHC and I was hit by a (one) proton traveling at 99.999991% the speed of light. Would the collision burn a hole in me? or would it simply be going so fast that it passes through me without interacting with the particles in my body?
  22. S

    Build a Model Hadron Collider at Home!

    Hi guys, I have the idea of putting together a model collider that fires two smashable objects (eggs or whatever) at each other and show a high speed camera footage of the objects hitting each other - this is all as an analogy of what the hadron collider does at CERN. Any ideas what I...
  23. A

    Particle collider imaging process

    How do particle colliders read the trajectories of particles in the collider? Are EM waves emitted from each of the particles? If some particles do not emit EM waves, does the "sensor" only read particles that emit EM waves? ...In other words, what bridges the gap between our pictorial data and...
  24. J

    LHC Sim: Hydrogen Atoms & Quark Charges

    I was on the LHC simulator and the collisions of the Hydrogen atoms were confusing. Why were some uniform in direction while some spinning erratically in a cork screw pattern? Does that behavior have anything to do with the positive or negative charges of the Quarks in the nucleus?
  25. L

    International Linear Collider.

    Hi Folks. Given the current speculation for the proposed locale for the International Linear Collider where in your opinion should it be sited?
  26. howabout1337

    Do the Large Hadron Collider take earth's rotational speed?

    so according to wiki: protons have a Lorentz factor of about 7,500 and move at about 0.999999991 c, or about 3 metres per second slower than the speed of light (c) If we consider speed of Earth's rotation or speed at which two galaxies approach each other (collision or otherwise)?
  27. J

    How does a collider know both the energy and position of the particle?

    Presumably a collider has some sort of pinhole out of which particles get ejected in a particular direction, and the energy (momentum) with which they are ejected is supposedly known. So, the operators/designs of the instrument know both the position (at the ejection pinhole, or whatever) and...
  28. J

    What happens when you collide protons with electrons in a super collider?

    Does it just burst into vast amounts of energy? Or what about colliding two electrons together. higgs boson?
  29. M

    Reason for dipole and quadrupole magnets in the Large Hadron Collider

    According to Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge, the LHC contains some 1,232 dipole magnets with an additional 392 quadrupole magnets. What is the difference in function between the two types of magnets? How might the effects of magnetic field gradients contribute to the differences...
  30. C

    Collider Parameters: corrected time for wrong vertex

    Hello, I stumbled across the following equation in a presentation about collider physics: tcorrWV =(tiRV - tiWV) + (TOFRV - TOFWV), where tcorrWV is the corrected time for the wrong vertex, tiRV is the initial time of the right vertex, tiRV is the initial time of the wrong vertex...
  31. lpetrich

    Is a muon collider feasible?

    New boson sparks call for 'Higgs factory' - physicsworld.com That article mentions a possible muon collider for making Higgs particles. Muons have the nice feature of having much less synchrotron-radiation loss, permitting a much smaller accelerator. However, muons have a problem. Their...
  32. E

    WHat is better in a particle beam collider.

    When two particle beams meet head on, more energy is available than when the particle beam is directed at a fixed target. Why is this??
  33. W

    The root second notation for collider energies

    Every paper I read about cross-section measurements from colliders has a line saying (for example): ...positron-electron annihilations at \sqrt{s} = 40 GeV are studied... 1) What does this mean? I'm guessing it means that in the CM frame, the energy of each beam is 40 GeV. 2) Why use...
  34. D

    The Hadron collider shooting particles at JUST under speed of light.

    Hi just a quick question, why do they choose to collide the ions at just under the speed of light? what would happen if they were shot at the speed of light or higher?
  35. B

    Suppose you are working at a particle collider

    my homework has the following question: suppose you are working at a particle collider (such as LCH). You observe a massive particle enter a detection chamber and disappear. If momentum has to be conserved in this case, what must you conclude? Can someone please give me some guidance? I am...
  36. R

    Possibility to see Higgs particles at the International Linear Collider

    I was wondering, if there was a hint or a strong signal of a Higgs particle existing around the 125 GeV region whether the possible future International Linear Collider would be able to probe that energy and produce Higgs to study? Also, if this is true, is it also true that the linear collider...
  37. S

    Large Hadron Collider - can it re-create the early universe?

    One of the aims of the Large Hadron Collider is that it may be able to re-create conditions in the early universe and therefore produce the quark-gluon plasma that appeared microseconds after the universe's birth. However a fundamental difference between the universe now (in which the...
  38. Drakkith

    Can Shining a Laser on Particle Collisions Reveal New Observations?

    Random question. Would shining a laser at a collision between particles let you observe anything you wouldn't be able to otherwise? For example, would any of the created particles absorb or reflect this light enough to be observable before decay? I'm assuming that it would be, at best, of...
  39. L

    Hadron collider substance used

    Q.) what substance is used for the hadron collider, the metal? I presume a metal compound of some sort but was wondering which and would it have to withstand high temperatures or are the electromagnets used kept at low temperatures due to better effieciency?
  40. Z

    Large Hadron Collider - Few Questions

    Can anyone explain a bit how does the LHC uses magnetic filed to accelerate protons? And why does it use protons for the collision? Couldn't they have used electrons?
  41. G

    RHIC Collider Creates Quark-Gluon Plasma at 4,000,000,000,000 Degrees Celsius

    What are your thoughts? Apologies if this is in the wrong place... http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-02/rhic-collider-creates-72-trillion-degrees-fahrenheit-quark-gluon-plasma"
  42. B

    Explore the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

    Large Hadron Collider! Hello again...I'm back! Now I got another amazing physics investigation :D This assignment is due next week and it's about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) The task requires me to write the research of its development and application, purpose, use of fields in and the...
  43. E

    Superconducting Super Collider still worth building after LHC?

    The canceled Superconducting Super Collider had 3x beam energy of 40TEV vs LHC 14TEV. While it has been cancelled, could it be re-started 20-30 years after LHC hits diminishing returns in the future? Is there any new expected physics in SSC range over and above LHC that would make it worth...
  44. S

    Collider Vs Fixed target accelerators

    Homework Statement Using the actual charge of an electron and the mass of an electron, determine the velocity of an electron that has been accelerated across a potential difference of 100000 volts. (Hint: T.) Homework Equations unsure of the formula. idk where to find it The...
  45. Loren Booda

    Fitzgerald contraction for a proton in the Large Hadron Collider

    By what factor would the radius parallel to the direction of travel contract for a 7 TeV proton, relative to an antiparallel 7 TeV proton, in the Large Hadron Collider?
  46. T

    Large hadrons collider [ATLAS]

    When protons collide in ATLAS, it shows some of the particles in close proximity to the collision with a curved trajectory. The cool thing is, some curve away from the ground. I’m trying to understand what influences this trajectory. If anyone can give me some info to help that would be great...
  47. M

    The Large Hadron Collider - Where is the particle?

    Ok, apologies if my understanding is limited or even wrong but I know I'll learn something from your replies even if my question turns out to be idiotic! Relativity gives us length contraction as we approach the speed of light but quantum mechanics gives us uncertainty as to a particles...
  48. I

    Potential Impacts of Hydron Collider: Examined?

    Hello, I have some basic questions that perhaps someone within the proper field might answer. I was wondering if there has been any significant preemptive analysis or models of the potential impacts of cintrifical force generation during and after the operation of the hydron collider in...
  49. M

    How frequently a collision takes place in a collider

    Homework Statement If its circumference is 27km, and there are 4 equally spaced points where the beams collide, show a collision takes place every 22 microseconds at each one of the collision points Homework Equations I don't know where to start, which equation should I use? The...
  50. P

    How do GM tubes detect charged particles in a hadron collider?

    1) Why do the electrodes in a linear accelerator get progressively longer? 2) What is a synchrotron? what is it used for? 3) How does a Geiger-Muller (GM) tube work? 4) How are particles detected in a hadron collider?
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