Gudspartikeln på spåren...?

Idag händer något jättespännande inom vetenskapen.

Vad man än kommer fram till så kommer det att bli revolutionerande och förmodligen leda forskarna in på nya tankebanor. Men experimenten kan också vara farliga - några hävdar att de kan utplåna jorden... (Via länken finns också mer matnyttig info om experimentet.)

Vad det hela handlar om i korthet är detta:

"Physicists have long puzzled over how particles acquire mass. In 1964, a British physicist, Peter Higgs, came up with this idea: there must exist a background field that would act rather like treacle.

Some scientists were however more optimistic.

Hubert Reeves, the French astrophysician, told the Swiss daily Le Matin that the invention could bring "unexpected results" that would change the world of particle physics forever.

"This machine will probably bring unexpected results that could turn particle physics on its head," Reeves said.

"It's a really impressive tool. It can go as deep underground as the length of a cathedral," he said.

Particles passing through it would acquire mass by being dragged through a mediator, which theoreticians dubbed the Higgs Boson.

The standard quip about the Higgs is that it is the "God Particle" -- it is everywhere but remains frustratingly elusive.

While questioning the likelihood of finding Higgs Bosons, Hawking said the experiment could discover superpartners, particles that would be "supersymmetric partners" to particles already known about.

"Their existence would be a key confirmation of string theory, and they could make up the mysterious dark matter that holds galaxies together," he told the BBC."

Läs mer här och hos Z.

Första experimentet som just precis har utförts gick bra. Nu väntar ett experiment med att skicka runt protoner i den ödesdigra andra riktningen - och därefter i båda riktningarna, vilket är tänkt att återskapa big-bang-förhållandena.

"Now that the beam has been successfully tested in clockwise direction, CERN plans to send it counterclockwise. Eventually two beams will be fired in opposite directions with the aim of recreating conditions a split second after the big bang, which scientists theorize was the massive explosion that created the universe.

The start of the collider — described as the biggest physics experiment in history — comes over the objections of some skeptics who fear the collision of protons could eventually imperil the earth."

Jag noterar:

Forskarna verkar vara helvilda, euforiska, närmast religiöst extatiska - som om de inte bryr sig om eventuella faror för hela jorden - bara deras teorier bekräftas - eller inte.

Läge för bön - alla jordnära kristna?

Read more...