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The Quantum Frontier: The Large Hadron Collider |  | Author: Don Lincoln
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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as of 11/21/2009 10:38 EST details
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 80842
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0801891442
Dewey Decimal Number: 539.7376
EAN: 9780801891441
ASIN: 0801891442
Publication Date: February 4, 2009
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Product Description
The highest-energy particle accelerator ever built, the Large Hadron Collider runs under the border between France and Switzerland. It leapt into action on September 10, 2008, amid unprecedented global press coverage and widespread fears that its energy would create tiny black holes that could destroy the earth. By smashing together particles smaller than atoms, the LHC recreates the conditions hypothesized to have existed just moments after the big bang. Physicists expect it to aid our understanding of how the universe came into being and to show us much about the standard model of particle physics -- even possibly proving the existence of the mysterious Higgs boson. In exploring what the collider does and what it might find, Don Lincoln explains what the LHC is likely to teach us about particle physics, including uncovering the nature of dark matter, finding micro black holes and supersymmetric particles, identifying extra dimensions, and revealing the origin of mass in the universe. Thousands of physicists from around the globe will have access to the LHC, none of whom really knows what outcomes will be produced by the $7.7 billion project. Whatever it reveals, the results arising from the Large Hadron Collider will profoundly alter our understanding of the cosmos and the atom and stimulate amateur and professional scientists for years to come.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 Interested In The LHC? August 25, 2009
BlueBerry (Salt Lake City)
I must admit that I have not entirely finished this book, but based on what i have read, I can recommend this book for those non-physicists who are interested in what all this hoopla about the LHC is about. This book provides an excellent introduction to particle accelerators and the LHC in particular. I had no idea of the vast forces and technological conquest involved. I find the operational details of the largest and most complex machine created by man entirely fascinating. This book is a departure from the books I have read about physics lately in that it is about the main tool of the modern particle physicist and not too deeply involved with the minutia of the particle physics. For instance, I was curious about the proton beam itself. What would it look like? What would happen if it hit something? This book answers some of my naive questions along with a great many more that I didn't even know to ask. This is a good start to understanding the LHC and I can't wait to read the books that come out after they pop a few protons and lead nuclei!
An accelerator here on Earth can perhaps answer mysteries that span the universe August 14, 2009
ROROTOKO (www.rorotoko.com)
"The Quantum Frontier" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Don Lincoln's book interview ran here as cover feature on May 13, 2009.
Perfect for any general lending library strong in science July 11, 2009
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
THE QUANTUM FRONTIER: THE LARGE HALDRON COLLIDER should be in every physics library: it offers an exciting assessment of the Large Haldron Collider, which runs between France and Switzerland, and surveys just why its opening is so significant. You needn't be a physicist to appreciate its importance, and the clear explorations in layman's terms imparts excitement. Perfect for any general lending library strong in science.
A peek inside the engines of creation... July 6, 2009
Steve Reina (Troy Michigan)
Since Galileo first pointed a telescope at the cosmos and von Leeuwenhoek first pointed his microscope at the microcosmos, the power of gadgets in scientific discovery has been self evident.
Aside from the Hubble telescope, this is today perhaps no where more true than with the CERN Large Hadron Collider located between the border of Switzerland and France.
Like we could crudely discover the constituent parts of a swiss watch by smashing it against a wall, the CERN collider smashes protons together to see what parts emerge from the collision. The hope is that if enough energy is used the resulting collision will mimic the energies present at the time of the Big Bang and therefore give us a glimpse of the heretofore hidden workings of the Big Bang.
Though they haven't found it yet, CERN researches are hoping to shed light on many important questions:
Why do objects have mass? Interestingly enough, we still aren't quite sure here. Though a leading theory suggests the existence of something called a Higgs Boson which supposedly gives matter its mass, an actual Higgs boson has yet to be discovered.
Why is there so little antimatter in the universe? Because antimatter has a very strong volatile reaction to matter, it's probably good it's so elusive. Case in point: an antimatter paperclip hitting a regular paperclip would generate a Hiroshima level explosion. Obviously not good. Still the same, as with mass itself, physicists are hopeful CERN will shed light on the reason for the missing antimatter. (Hint: it may have something to do with the arrow of time itself.)
What happens when their is a unification of the physical forces of nature? As is stands there are four currently understood physical forces of nature: the strongest, the strong nuclear force, which keeps the nucleus of an atom together; the weak nuclear force, which exhibits itself through electron decay; electromagnetism, which exists from the nuclear to the macroscopic domain; and finally the weakest force gravity which acts at the macroscopic level. So far only the weak and the electromagnetic force have been successfully merged creating the so called Z particle. An X particle merging the Z with the strong nuclear force has long been conjectured but that still leaves us uncertain about the properties of the merger of a Z with gravity...a merger we believe last existed at the time of the Big Bang.
These and other questions loom as we await the results of the work of CERN. And this book is vital manual for understanding both the questions and how we are endeavoring to answer them.
Everything you wanted to know about physics research, but were embarrassed to ask May 1, 2009
Katherine Schlobohm (Chicago, IL USA)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is a fascinating book that explains in simple terms what has been learned from high energy physics research, and why it's important and exciting.
Lincoln does a great job of using metaphors, and things that I understand, to describe things I never thought I could comprehend. He writes with an easy, conversational style and sense of humor, so that reading the book feels like a conversation with a very patient friend who wants to help me understand what he does when he goes to work and why he loves it.
The book gives the background to the building of Cern's LHC, the world's largest collider, and anticipates the discoveries that may come from the research done there.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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