Related press releases
Related research
Some answers about our universe are becoming available without the aid of science fiction
:: 19 November, 2007
For many of us, it was Spock who knew the secrets of the universe and the mysteries of the galaxies.
With last week's announcement that Fermilab researchers were among those who have discovered the origin of cosmic rays, some answers about our universe are becoming available without the aid of science fiction. It may not spark as much interest in the general public as Spock did on television with his Vulcan Science Academy and the missions of the USS Enterprise on "Star Trek," but it is an impressive feat being celebrated at Batavia's high-energy physics lab.
We have applauded much of the work being done at Fermilab in the past. That includes the federal funding that has provided it, not the least of which is the advanced technology used in the research to collect data to share with other scientists throughout the world. We can all relate to these types of advancements, such as the development of the World Wide Web, even if we are not able to easily grasp the theory behind the Linear Hadron Collider, the Tevatron and other tools of discovery that Fermilab scientists deal with daily.
The discovery that pinpoints active galactic nuclei as the origin of cosmic rays marks the first time "astro-physics" describes what is unfolding at Fermilab.
When Fermilab scientist Henry Glass says this cosmic discovery was 20 years in the making and that it is "one of the outstanding puzzles in astro-physics," we get a sense of the patience and depth of research needed to achieve these goals.
Fermilab is already home to the Tevatron, the highest-energy particle accelerator in the world, and it has its sights set on landing the International Linear Collider within the next five to six years. This project would complement the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland.
We found it to be perfect timing that filmmakers Clayton Brown and Andrew Supernant of Chicago were showing their nearly completed documentary "The Atom Smashers" at Geneva's first film festival last weekend. The documentary is about Fermilab's search for a subatomic particle called the Higgs and the race to find what researchers believe to be "the last piece of the puzzle" of human existence.
As Daily Herald reporter Nancy Gier surmised in viewing just a few minutes of the film, you find yourself "rooting for the men and women of Fermilab in their search for fundamental knowledge."
And that sums it up pretty well. Yes, the work at Fermilab is beyond the grasp of most of us, but so was the work of Thomas Edison and so many other scientists in their times.
What never fails to impress us is that Fermilab, which has always been an excellent neighbor to Batavia, is this country's key lab in what amounts to a global network seeking to solve puzzles that have baffled man for all of time. And we find ourselves rooting for them to succeed because man has always thirsted for more knowledge -- and Fermilab seeks to quench that thirst.
Note for Cosmic rays
Cosmic rays are energetic particles originating from space that impinge on Earth's atmosphere. Almost 90% of all the incoming cosmic ray particles are protons, about 9% are helium nuclei (alpha particles) and about 1% are electrons. The term "ray" is a misnomer, as cosmic particles arrive individually, not in the form of a ray or beam of particles.
The variety of particle energies reflects the wide variety of sources. The origins of these particles range from energetic processes on the Sun all the way to as yet unknown events in the farthest reaches of the visible universe. Cosmic rays can have energies of over 1020 eV, far higher than the 1012 to 1013 eV that man-made particle accelerators can produce. (The article on Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays describes the detection of a single particle with an energy of about 50 J, the same as a well-hit tennis ball at 42 m/s.) There has been interest in investigating cosmic rays of even greater energies.
Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a particle accelerator and collider located at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland (46°14′N, 6°03′E). Currently under construction, the LHC is scheduled to begin operation in May 2008.[1] The LHC is expected to become the world's largest and highest energy particle accelerator. The LHC is being funded and built in collaboration with over two thousand physicists from thirty-four countries, universities and laboratories.
When activated, it is hoped that the collider will produce the elusive Higgs boson — often dubbed the God Particle — the observation of which could confirm the predictions and 'missing links' in the Standard Model of physics, and explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass. The verification of the existence of the Higgs boson would be a significant step in the search for a Grand Unified Theory which seeks to unify three of the four fundamental forces: electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force. The Higgs boson may also help to explain why the remaining force, gravitation, is so weak compared to the other three forces.
Tags: universe , galaxies , Fermilab , cosmic rays , science fiction , Vulcan Science Academy , Star Trek , Linear Hadron Collider , astro-physics , Large Hadron Collider , Geneva , Switzerland. ,
