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What Are Must-Sees For Open Day At the LHC?
ribasushi writes "The last open day at the Large Hadron Collider is one week away. While I have a solid chance to go, I am dumbstruck by the insane amount of things to see during the 10 hours of the event. Since I do not know all that much about physics, I am turning to the knowledgeable crowd here at Slashdot — what do you think are the most awesome 5 must-see things on the agenda next Sunday?"
xkcd
Why not go see the black holes. You'll finally be able to answer the question of what's on the other side of one!
I drink to make other people interesting!
You have *got* to see the flux capacitors! I realize that you're a bit new to physics, but please press hard to see the flux capacitors. Your guide may laugh uneasily - just keep pressing and don't take "No" for an answer. You won't be sorry.
Make sure you know where to get one in case of an emergency.
3.243F6A8885A308D313
Please, don't move carts with odd-looking crystals in teleporting devices.
See if you can goad the physicists into destroying the universe by creating a black hole. You know you want to.
I think the most valuable "things" you could see on your visit would be 5 physicists who actually do know enough about the subject to appreciate it, and who could maybe pass a smattering of that knowledge and appreciation on to you. Do not misunderstand me... the fact that you asked at all demonstrates that you value the experience and do not take it lightly. I know people who would give a lot to see what you will see.
The LHC is just a tourist trap. It's like Times Square. You go thinking it's gonna be all fun, then you realize it's just a bunch of bright colors and earth eating black holes, and there's nothing to do there but shop for overpriced bosons you could've picked up for half price at a more nondescript collider.
The laws of probability forbid it!
.. Small Hard-on Collider
Standard slashdot response - no one follows the link,
which shows that it's a large open house event with many activities.
Anyhoo, the Atlas detector looked very cool in a magazine I read recently (National Geographic?).
Personally I'd also try to see one of the pulse power supplies that drives the LHC injector kicker magnets, because my father's team designed them.
http://www.triumf.ca/publications/pub/arch05/pp-05-19.pdf
Yes you can tell I'm proud of him!
Bavarian Purity Law of Rice Krispie Squares: Rice Krispies, Marshmallows, Butter, Vanilla.
The On switch/button :D
You can get the answer by repeatedly asking 'What does this button do?'
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
+2 Troll is Slashdot's way of saying groupthink is confused
If you get a chance, try to visit the caverns of either of the two main experiments (ATLAS or CMS). I saw CMS while it was still above ground (it was assembled there first, unlike ATLAS), and it was a sight to behold. ATLAS is probably even more impressive and maybe more convenient since it's at the main site. Aside from that, I'd try to get a peek at the computer center and take in some of the general lectures.
Have fun!
How's that for knowledgeable!?
*barely dodges flak*
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
If you have any interest at all in the detectors or accelerator, now's the time. Spend your time there; because, you won't be able to "tour" it later. Once it's been running the equipment will become activated (as in radioactive) and the public will no longer be able to tour the underground facilities. There will likely be physicists and technicians on hand who will be happy (excited even) to talk about what they've built.
you can always go back and look at the computer center, control rooms, or whatever at a future open house event (which I'm certain they'll have regularly, to keep the public interested).
For what it's worth, I worked as a technician at a U.S. DOE facility
"I visited the Large Hadron Collider and all I got was this radioactive T-Shirt"
buying a real "Mini black Hole!" on a key-ring. :)
Since I work here.... I might give a few clues:
:-)
- before you do anything, check the Microcosm museum in the reception building. This one will explain a lot what's happening.
- this one is a must: be sure to make a trip to either the ATLAS or CMS cavern (those are the two bigger detectors attached to the LHC)
- the ATLAS control room
- the LHC control room
- the computing centre in the IT building
- and if you have time, stop by for a tea in building 40
Ask them if the big bang was caused by an experiment to discover the Higg's boson.
Ask them if this is the last chance to perform this experiment before physicists realize that it will cause a big bang and inflationary event which will recycle the present universe.
Ask them if this is the same experiment that was done 20 billion light years away and that put on a show called the Star of Bethlehem 2000 years ago.
Ask them if the only proof that they will cause a big bang is that there cannot be any proof until the experiment is performed. (See also 'The Hound of the Baskervilles')
Ask them if it is necessary to do the experiment because we've been doing it for infinity and if we don't the universe will fade away forever.
Ask them if we have to do it because if we don't some other nearby civilization will beat us to it and we'll eat their dust.
I'm a student here working on ATLAS (and I'll be one of the volunteers on the 6th) and I agree with the parent. The two big 'Must sees' are the detectors and the accelerators. The detectors are going to be much more impresive looking. That said, here's my $0.02
ATLAS (point1). This is the biggest detector (and my favorite, though I'm not biased or anything....) but it will also be the most crowded by far.
CMS (point5). Almost as big as ATLAS and still damn impressive. It won't be as crowded because it's a lot further away. It will still be packed though I'm sure.
ALICE (point2). Smaller detector for heavy ions. My guess is this will be pretty crowded to since St Genis is close to CERN
LHCb (point8). Another smaller detector for b quark physics. Between Ferney and Meyrin... no idea if people will go see it.
Those are the 4 detectors ranked (in my opinion) in order of coolness. I'd try to go see 2 of them if you can. Look up info on them online (they all have websites), find out which ones you want to visit. You should also try to see the accelerator somewhere. Point 6 would be my recomendation since the beam dump is also located there (this is where the beam is evacuated in case of emergency. When you realize the energy stored in the beam, this becomes pretty impressive).
Another thing I recomend is the acelerator chain tour (point1):
http://lhc2008.web.cern.ch/LHC2008/OpenDaysE/accelerators.html
There are a lot of other things open, but most of them you can still go and visit when the LHC is running (and the crowds aren't there). One last recomendation. I'd start out going to see things out on the ring, then come back to point1 (Meyrin) and explore it with all the rest of your time. That way you should be able to get the most out of it. See you Sunday!
Well, OK. I can claim to be one... But I will out of own for the Open Day... unfortunately.
The thing is that at CERN almost everyone is clueful but about "one thing" mostly. It is hard to find someone who has the "large picture"... The ones who do are generally people who have not been working on the LHC for the past 15 years but those who have been working on it since 2-3 years and before that was working at Fermilab or somewhere else like that. Then they can tell you what's new or revolutionary and put things in better perspective.
Honestly, it looks like the OpenDay will be a mad house. We are expecting at least 40,000 people. The queues are going to be awfully long! I feel like we should have a couple more of these OpenDays to accommodate this huge interest but hey, I am not in the management!! I am just a post-doc!
That said, I have given lots of tours at CERN already. I have taken at least 400 people underground just this past year. (Only 12 people are allowed to go at a time with one guide... ) I think the well-known things like ATLAS and CMS will be completely and utterly packed. So I would like to point out a rare gem... It's the LHC-b cavern where you can actually see the insides of the experiment which installed before LHC-b was installed and is now decommissioned and sitting nearby. The problem with ATLAS and CMS is that they are "done" -- meaning, the experiments are assembled wholly and therefore, it is hard to see it's guts. But you can see the guts of this decommissioned detector, which is kind of neat. I work for ATLAS and I love ATLAS to pieces but I think to try to see it on Open Day, one would need to be at CERN and queueing at 8am... or earlier.
If you have never seen a tape reader with robots running around before, the tour to the Computing Center is really cool -- but then again, since there will be no radiation there, you can visit that even after the 1st of May. (1st of May is the date set by the LHC management board to be the last day of public tours to the LHC and experiments. The rest of CERN will still be "visitable" after that.)
If you can not see ATLAS or CMS on the OpenDay or cant be here on the OpenDay but want to see them, there is a cheat... Most of everyone's requests goes through CERN Visitors Service. And they have a pool of guides but the experiments also have a pool of guides. The visitors service is no longer offering tours as they are completely booked until the 1st of May with their guides. But the experiments might still allow for visitors. The way to increase your chances of getting a private tour to one of the experiments is as follows: Find 11 other people who are interested in seeing the experiment with you and then e-mail the ATLAS or CMS secretariat asking for a tour for 12 people on a April xxth at xx:xx. Then they will forward this request to their pool of guides and someone (like me) might actually give you a tour. We like 12 people tours as this is the maximum we can take down and it is a much better "waste" of our time if the tour group is at maximum number... The e-mails for the secretariats are as follows: atlas.secretariat@cern.ch and cms.secretariat@cern.ch
Good luck!