Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

CERN Releases LHC Data

Posted by Soulskill on from the insights-in-how-to-destroy-the-universe dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Ever wished you had access to CERN's LHC data to help with your backyard high-energy physics research? Today you're in luck. CERN has launched its Open Data Portal, which makes experimental data produced by the Large Hadron Collider open to the public. "The first high-level and analyzable collision data openly released come from the CMS experiment and were originally collected in 2010 during the first LHC run. This data set is now publicly available on the CERN Open Data Portal. Open source software to read and analyze the data is also available, together with the corresponding documentation. The CMS collaboration is committed to releasing its data three years after collection, after they have been thoroughly studied by the collaboration." You can read more about CERN's commitment to "Open Science" here.

42 comments

  1. hmmmm by ganjadude · · Score: 2

    I wonder what people will do with this data or what can be learned from it?

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    1. Re:hmmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never underestimate the crowd. You never know the genius who might be lurking amidst the riff-raff.

    2. Re:hmmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Make abstract art? It's been done with other data sets.

    3. Re:hmmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Some people just love data:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj-qBUWOYfE

      I haven't looked at it but I wonder if these results have already been filtered in some way. Is the code also available for that?

    4. Re:hmmmm by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      I wonder what people will do with this data or what can be learned from it?

      Don't worry, countries that are not a member of CERN, and other dictatorships, will be interested.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    5. Re:hmmmm by DerekLyons · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Unless they're particle physicists with a bunch of computer power at their disposal... not much beyond bumping fists and shouting *information wants to be frrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeee!*.

      Seriously, even though it's only useful to a limited number of people, it's still cool.

    6. Re:hmmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jack shit. The researchers deliberately leave out anything important, because they are afraid someone could use the good stuff to get a Nobel Prize, and they want it for themselves.

  2. Looking closely by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can see the exact moment the earth was destroyed by a black hole.

    1. Re:Looking closely by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

      You could also spend hours of fun playing "Where's Higgs Boson?"

    2. Re:Looking closely by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      He's the one in the hat... oh wait, that's Waldo.

    3. Re:Looking closely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can see the exact moment the earth was destroyed by a black hole.

      And because of the time dilation effect, we aren't aware of it yet... :-)

  3. Nuclear weapons? by mi · · Score: 1

    Can the availability of these data help me — or Iran — develop a nuclear weapon faster?

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:Nuclear weapons? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your jump to that logic tells us volumes about you.

    2. Re:Nuclear weapons? by mi · · Score: 1

      Your jump to that logic tells us volumes about you.

      So, instead of answering "yes it may" or "not, it is unlikely", you make it about my person? Wow...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    3. Re:Nuclear weapons? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. Nuclear bombs are in the sub eV energy region, this is 9 to 12 magnitude more. Could not be more different.

    4. Re:Nuclear weapons? by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 1

      It's because your posting history and bizarre sig indicate that you're a terrified wingnut. When someone's personality is the problem as much as their ignorance, just giving an answer isn't as helpful to their potential development into a rational person as mockery is. Something has to get you back on track.

    5. Re:Nuclear weapons? by jandrese · · Score: 2

      This would be more for if they wanted to jump right to Antimatter bombs. This would tell them exactly how to do it. In fact it's so simple that even ISIS can do it once they get this data. You can expect to be annihilated sometime next week.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    6. Re:Nuclear weapons? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Can the availability of these data help me — or Iran — develop a nuclear weapon faster?

      No. The physics of nuclear weapons is already well understood. The hard part is the logistics of getting the materials and components. These data would not help there.

      However, the data are useful for anyone attempting to power a starship with a warp drive, since that requires exposing the dilithium crystals to copious quantities of Higgs bosons.

    7. Re:Nuclear weapons? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Yes.

      However, the nuclear weapon would need an LHC for it to work. Which would be hard to deliver on a plane or missile payload.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    8. Re:Nuclear weapons? by mbone · · Score: 1

      The LHC would make an excellent particle beam weapon source, if you should have a starship (generation ship?) big enough to house it.

    9. Re:Nuclear weapons? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You show such astounding ignorance of science in asking such a question that it's easy to forget that an answer is requested. The level of stupidity you exhibit is so attention-grabbing.

      But to answer your question: It's as likely as it is that you get admitted to Mensa.

    10. Re:Nuclear weapons? by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      My younger brother joined Mensa while in college... he likes to make fun of them. He is the kind of guy that will pose the dumbest thing he can think of in the most intelligent manner just to see how many people will take it seriously... I've seen him make professors and high school teachers doubt they knew what the subjects they were teaching. I know that is kind of jerk thing to do but it is so funny.

    11. Re:Nuclear weapons? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure he is a genius and not a jackass.

    12. Re:Nuclear weapons? by Jamu · · Score: 4, Informative

      No. Even though it's called CERN. The research is very much sub-nuclear. And although the energies are higher, this also means the particles involved decay quickly. Similarly in nature, they're created with high energies, but don't last long. The A-bomb relies on the natural abundance of uranium or plutonium. These are unstable elements that can be triggered into decaying in a chain reaction. The particles at the LHC need a lot of energy to create, and they decay quickly. It's been suggested they could make an anti-matter bomb. You'd need to use a lot more energy making the anti-matter than would be released in the bomb. Anti-matter is hard to store: it will interact with any matter destructively. No one can make anti-matter in enough quantity. Even if they could, and despite the great energy efficiencies, plutonium and uranium is so much more practical, along with some fusion fuel, that the relatively low energy efficiencies of a nuclear bomb, isn't a problem.

      --
      Who ordered that?
    13. Re:Nuclear weapons? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should consider self-immolation as a form of protest against the liberal agenda and the conspiracy of "science". That way, everybody wins!

    14. Re:Nuclear weapons? by steelfood · · Score: 1

      along with some fusion fuel

      You mean like water?

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    15. Re:Nuclear weapons? by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      along with some fusion fuel

      You mean like water?

      Nope. More likely lithium deuteride.

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
  4. El psy congroo by voights · · Score: 0

    This is just a ploy by SERN to divert our attention away from their clandestine plans to take over the world.

    1. Re:El psy congroo by RDW · · Score: 1

      This is just a ploy by CERN to divert our attention away from their clandestine plans to take over the world.

      What, again?

    2. Re:El psy congroo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://steins-gate.wikia.com/w...

  5. LHC@home by Maow · · Score: 2

    I wonder how this relates to the LHC@home project?

    I've got that plus a couple more running and it seems the LHC project has had some down-time lately.

    Are they switching to releasing the data in this form now?

  6. Huge Change by mbone · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was told, at a NSF meeting not many months ago, that CERN never makes its data openly available and never would and that US scientists should just plan on getting European collaborators if they want to work on it.

    Now, if we just get ESA to start releasing the Rosetta data...

    1. Re:Huge Change by buchner.johannes · · Score: 2

      I was told, at a NSF meeting not many months ago, that CERN never makes its data openly available and never would and that US scientists should just plan on getting European collaborators if they want to work on it.

      Now, if we just get ESA to start releasing the Rosetta data...

      Most of the instruments (e.g. electronics) have a large US contribution. CERN operates the ring, but the instruments are "clients", which are international research teams. That was the vision of CERN after the second world war -- bring leading science to Europe, and make research in Europe attractive. Particle physics was chosen back then.

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
    2. Re:Huge Change by mbone · · Score: 1

      I was told, at a NSF meeting not many months ago, that CERN never makes its data openly available and never would and that US scientists should just plan on getting European collaborators if they want to work on it.

      Now, if we just get ESA to start releasing the Rosetta data...

      Most of the instruments (e.g. electronics) have a large US contribution. CERN operates the ring, but the instruments are "clients", which are international research teams. That was the vision of CERN after the second world war -- bring leading science to Europe, and make research in Europe attractive. Particle physics was chosen back then.

      Yes, that is what I meant (and, even, what I said). To get the data you had to join one of the teams and collaborate with the other scientists in the team. Now, apparently, you don't.

  7. Bennett Haselton by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hopefully Bennett is looking at the data closely and can give us some insight on fusion research. He is a frequent contributor. Additional input by mdsolar and HughPickens would be appreciated as well.

  8. The data looks difficult to understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I downloaded some of the cern data, and while its in xml format, it seems to be just a bunch of numbers. I originally thought that it would be nice to take some data, and plot them to 3d or something. But the data format just seems so strange that it's probably not going to happen. Nothing useful kind of graphs can be extracted from that data :-)

    1. Re: The data looks difficult to understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that's why you can't use the data to disprove them but they can say that they released the data to the public and nobody has proved then wrong

  9. Huge Change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Here's the CMS collaboration web front. It has a map showing where the collaborators are - lots in the US

    http://cms.web.cern.ch/content/cms-collaboration

  10. Probably Not a Lot by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 3, Informative

    What you are getting is the reconstructed data. To be able to do anything scientifically valuable with it you have to understand the intricate details of the reconstruction software, the trigger, the calibration etc. etc. To be honest I would be amazed if anyone outside CMS will be able to do much with it at all. I'd also expect that there will be bandwidth restrictions on accessing the data since the dataset is multi-PB (if it is the full set of run I data).

    We did a similar exercise with the D0 experiment at Fermilab several years ago and it was of interest to practically nobody. I expect there may be somewhat more interest with this being the LHC data but I'd be surprised if anything useful comes of it given the massive amount of work required to be able to do a useful analysis. The best I can think of is that this might make a really nice undergraduate course project or, with some pre-written, high level analysis code, perhaps even as outreach for high school students.

    1. Re:Probably Not a Lot by buchner.johannes · · Score: 1

      You could filter out all the Higgs events and make them into a artsy OpenGL visualisation or use them in a audio piano piece.
      Like here, magnetic field observations has been converted to audio: https://soundcloud.com/esaops/...

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
  11. 3 years? by countach · · Score: 1

    It’s laudible that they release it after 3 years, but then rather reprehensible that they are so scared that someone else might discover something faster than them, and they don’t release it straight away.