30 Year Old Physicist Causing Stir

[troutman]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/05/09/p...ima/index.html

Nima Arkani-Hamed, a theoretical physicist, predicts large extra dimensions

The Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland may confirm his ideas

LHC results may change ideas of spacetime for the first time since Einstein

String theory postulates that the building blocks of matter are vibrating strings

[Iggy's Forehead]

I shouldn't have skipped so much science class..

[photon]

The field is pretty much stagnant until we get a big breakthrough, and hopefully the LHC will produce it.

[J pold]

I have herd about this somewhere else as well

Now I am by no means well versed in physics but this seems rather interesting

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Originally Posted by photon

The field is pretty much stagnant until we get a big breakthrough, and hopefully the LHC will produce it.

A big breakthrough... into another dimension! Hope you like living in fog infested with bugs as big as your head and big clawed, tentacled beasties the size of AT-ATs.

When are they supposed to fire this thing up? July sometime?

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by PowerPlayoffs06

A big breakthrough... into another dimension! Hope you like living in fog infested with bugs as big as your head and big clawed, tentacled beasties the size of AT-ATs.

When are they supposed to fire this thing up? July sometime?

Wikipedia:

The LHC is in the final stages of construction, and commissioning, with some sections already being cooled down to their final operating temperature of ~2K. The first beams are due for injection mid June 2008 with the first collisions planned to take place 2 months later.[1] The LHC will become the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator.[2] The LHC is being funded and built in collaboration with over two thousand physicists from thirty-four countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.

[Locke]

I get worried when all of the physicists are on edge.

[photon]

[Flaming Choy]

http://xkcd.com/401/

[Flames89]

I wonder what is the WORST case scenario of the LHC? And I wonder if anyone living on top of that thing knows about it.

[Tron_fdc]

"Concerns have been raised that performing collisions at previously unexplored energies might unleash new and disastrous phenomena. These include the production of micro black holes,"

Sweet, fire this biyatch up and aim 'er at Toronto!

[kermitology]

LMAO!

"I just gave a helicopter cancer!"

That's freaking hilarious!

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Originally Posted by Flames89

I wonder what is the WORST case scenario of the LHC? And I wonder if anyone living on top of that thing knows about it.

I've read about worries of micro black holes, but the theory there is that they'll pretty much peter out instantaniously and not pose any real danger. I think that the worst case scenario discussed is stranglets or something turning Earth into a hunk of lifeless strange matter. They say the chances of any of this stuff happening is on par with you winning the grand prize in the lotto like, 5 weeks in a row or some such. The problem is that people actually believe it's possible to win the lotto 5 times in a row...

I think that may have been from Nehkara's Wikipedia link which I'd already read a while ago.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Flames89

I wonder what is the WORST case scenario of the LHC? And I wonder if anyone living on top of that thing knows about it.

The worst case scenario is we don't find anything new.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

"Concerns have been raised that performing collisions at previously unexplored energies might unleash new and disastrous phenomena. These include the production of micro black holes,"

Sweet, fire this biyatch up and aim 'er at Toronto!

Too late, that city is already a black hole... of emotion.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by PowerPlayoffs06

I've read about worries of micro black holes, but the theory there is that they'll pretty much peter out instantaniously and not pose any real danger.

Quick enough to throw in cigarette butts? Ex girlfriends? Nuclear waste? Sean Avery?

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Quick enough to throw in cigarette butts? Ex girlfriends? Nuclear waste? Sean Avery?

I would support funding of black holes for Sean Avery disposal.

[CaptainCrunch]

If they could minaturize this device and mount it in a backpack, I have a fantastic business idea.

[worth]

Not sure how this guy specifically is causing a stir...String theory, Superstring theory and M theory have all been around for a long time.

All of the things listed in the article are pretty much well known to anyone who has an interest in quantum physics. Modern String theory has it's origins from back in the 60's.

Anyone interested in the subject I suggest reading Michio Kaku's book:



A couple years back Brian Green did a show for PBS called "The elegant universe"

It's on the PBS website for viewing and he going into vibrating strings and all that good stuff.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by worth

Not sure how this guy specifically is causing a stir...String theory, Superstring theory and M theory have all been around for a long time.

Arkani-Hamed is only in his mid-30s, but he has distinguished himself as one of the leading thinkers in the field of particle physics.

His revolutionary ideas about the way the universe works will finally be put to the test this year at Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider, which will be the world's most powerful particle accelerator.

Regarded as a "gem," Arkani-Hamed is "opening our minds and creating a new world of ideas that challenge deep-grained preconceptions about spacetime," said Chris Tully, professor of physics at Princeton University, who is working on the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.