The Large Hadron Collider and the Super World
Presenter: David Gross
Published: July 2014
Age: 18-22 and upwards
Views: 1648 views
Tags:
Type: Lectures
Source/institution: Lindau-Nobel
Watch now
In the period 1990 to 2001 many powerful new astronomical observational facilities have become operational. Hubble Space telescope was launched in 1990; it was followed by the construction of Keck I in 1992 and Keck II in 1996, by the completion of the Very Large Telescope in 1998, the launch of the X ray observatory Chandra in 1999 and of the infrared Spitzer Telescope in 2001. I will focus my discussion on three telescopes systems in whose development I was personally involved: Hubble, VLT and Chandra.vvSome of the profound questions about elementary particles and forces and the universe will be described; questions that might be answered as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN turns on this year. For example: What gives mass to elementary particles? Do all the forces between particles arise from a single basic force? What is the dark matter that makes up one fourth of the universe and is critical to the formation of galaxies? One speculative theory that seeks to address some of these questions is called supersymmetry. It uses quantum variables to describe space and time and suggests that every known particle has a yet-undiscovered superpartner particle. These new particles may soon be discovered at the Large Hadron Collider.