Particle physicist Tara Shears shares the latest findings from the Large Hadron Collider. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is the most powerful particle collider ever built and has been described as the world's biggest science experiment. Designed to answer the unknowns in particle physics, including the reason for so little antimatter in the universe and the exact locations of dark matter and the missing Higgs particle, the LHC is capable of recreating the conditions that were in existence one fraction of a second after the Big Bang. Dr Tara Shears takes the stage at The Royal Institution to reveal what has been discovered at the LHC since its first year of operation. This event took place at the Ri on Wednesday 19 October 2011. View the event video here: http://richannel.org/uncovering-the-universe-latest-news-from-the-lhc

1. (c) CERN
Latest news
from the LHC
Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

2. To understand
the universe
BIG BANG NOW
>>>
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

3. The universe?
u c t e μ τ
d s b νe νμ ντ
quarks leptons
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

4. u c t e μ τ
d s b νe νμ ντ
quarks leptons
Weak : W Z bosons
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

5. u c t e μ τ
d s b νe νμ ντ
quarks leptons
EM: bosons
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

6. u c t e μ τ
d s b νe νμ ντ
quarks leptons
Strong: g bosons
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

7. u c t e μ τ
d s b νe νμ ντ
quarks leptons
(and gravity)
?
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

8. Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

9. nice …
BUT

10. (1)
What is mass?
…property mediated by
“Higgs Particle”
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

11. (1)
What is mass?
…property mediated by
???
“Higgs Particle”
nb ……
we haven’t seen it yet …..
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

12. (2)
anti matter
Big Bang:
equal amounts of
matter and antimatter
created
Now:
we (matter) exist
Why?
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

13. (3)
and the other 96% ?
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

14. (3)
and the other 96% ?
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

15. Many questions….
What is mass?
What about gravity?
12 matter particles?
Mini black holes?
What about the other 96% of the universe …..
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

16. European Laboratory
for Particle Physics
Founded in 1954
20 member countries
More than 9,000 scientists
Over 100 nationalities
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

17. LHC:
2 beams of protons collide
40 million x a second at
near light speed 100m
underground
27 km
Recreating
conditions when
universe was a
billionth of a
second old ……
© CERN
Images (c) CERN
© CERN
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

18. How does it
Work?

19. Image (c) CERN
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

20. Image (c) CERN
Identify particles by characteristic signatures in experiment
Add computers: calculate particle paths and energies
Add theory: infer what fundamental process happened
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

21. © STFC
Image (c) STFC

22. © CERN
Image (c) CERN

23. …..to grid
Image : http://rtm.hep.ph.ic.ac.uk

24. Is it
Working?

25. (c) CERN
[yes]

26. What is the LHC doing
now ?
1bunch x 1bunch at start
~400x400 in 11/10
2808x2808 ultimately
lead ion collisions for final
month.
1308x1308 summer 11
onwards
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

27. First
results …. start with snapshots
Image (c) CERN
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

28. First
results
The strong force:
We see quarks
produced as
predicted
The Standard Model
works so far …
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

29. The electroweak force:
We see W and Z bosons produced
as predicted
The Standard Model works so far …
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

30. Image : http://www.particlezoo.net:
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

31. The electroweak force:
We see top quarks – the
heaviest known particles.
The Standard Model works
here too …
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

32. Higgs?
So where is it?
According to the
theory….
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

33. Higgs?
We need a lot of
data.
What we think
might happen...
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

34. Higgs?
7/11
Atlas and CMS search
results reported.
Was this the first hint of
Higgs …
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

35. Higgs?
7/11
Atlas and CMS search
results reported.
Was this the first hint of
Higgs …
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

36. Higgs?
7/11
Atlas and CMS search
results reported.
Was this the first hint of
Higgs …
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

37. Image : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

38. Image : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

40. Higgs?
8/11
Atlas and CMS
search results
updated
Was this the first
hint of Higgs …
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

41. Image : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

42. Image : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

43. And beyond
the Standard Model?
… still looking….
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

44. And beyond
the Standard Model?
… susy….
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

45. Image : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

46. And beyond
the Standard Model?
General searches:
LHCb Bs μ
Nothing untoward seen yet
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

47. The early
universe?
Study using heavy ion collisions
in LHC.
See weird correlations.
A new phase of matter?
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

48. Latest news at CERN
on antimatter
6/2011:
Alpha experiment.
Stored 309 anti-H
atoms for 1000 sec.
Now we can start to
study antimatter
directly.
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

49. Latest news at CERN
on antimatter
8/2011:
LHCb experiment.
Starting to make
first measurements
of matter and
antimatter particles.
Now we can start to
study antimatter
indirectly.
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

50. Latest news at CERN/ Gran Sasso
on speedy neutrinos
9/2011:
Opera experiment.
Measured neutrinos
travelling at 7km/hr
faster than light.
What is happening
there?
(BBC2 Horizon,iPlayer)
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

51. What’s happening
Next?
Data-taking continuously until late 2012
LHC energy upgrade.
Now: collecting more and more data
Experiments well understood
Results streaming out
Expect very interesting results to come ….
Latest news from the LHC Tara Shears, University of Liverpool

52. What will we find?
………. wait and see ……….