The little big bang and the 'God particle"

Yesterday, physicists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) achieved high-power collisions of sub-atomic particles. This is the first part of a two year experiment that aims to recreate and study the conditions present when the Big Bang occurred. And the great news is that we are all still here!

Long touted as the experiment that would end the world by creating a black hole somewhere near Geneva, the experiment has succeeded in its initial aim and (bonus!) it has added to the sum of human knowledge without the total obliteration of life on earth.

“It’s a great day to be a particle physicist,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “A lot of people have waited a long time for this moment, but their patience and dedication is starting to pay dividends.”

“With these record-shattering collision energies, the [Large Hadren Collider] LHC experiments are propelled into a vast region to explore, and the hunt begins for dark matter, new forces, new dimensions and the Higgs boson,” said ATLAS collaboration spokesperson, Fabiola Gianotti.

Ah yes, the infamous Higgs Boson, or as it is commonly known, the God Particle... I am sure that you will not be surprised to know that my little blogging brain has been enchanted by the notion of a God particle and indeed, by the thought that there is a place for a God anything within the scientific world.

This particle has never been observed experimentally and its existence is purely hypothetical at this point. The theory is that the interaction of the Higgs Boson with other particles ensures that the universe contains matter, rather than just energy alone. It is for this reason that the Higgs Boson is known as the God particle. Essentially, if this experiment detects the elusive (and currently only imagined) Higgs Boson, it will help to explain the origin of mass in the universe.

The popular interest in the God particle is one of the reasons why CERN now has over 120,000 followers on Twitter. Another big draw is the fear factor that surrounds the experiment. There has been (and probably still is) a small risk that this experiment will lead to the creation of a black hole that will end life on earth. Not doing much to allay fears that physicists consider the total annihilation of the human race to be collateral damage, last month, CERN issued a paper including the following statement: there is little doubt that black hole production at the [Large Hadron Collider] would be an unacceptable and irresponsible risk."

While this statement does appear to indicate that CERN is NOT in favour of the end of the world, the language is not quite strong enough to help me sleep easy. 'Black hole production' - as if this is an every day occurrence? 'an unacceptable and irresponsible risk' - yeheh and then some.

However, there is a serious side to this experiment (which is far too complicated for my feeble grey matter to understand). As Heuer explains: The LHC has a real chance over the next two years of discovering supersymmetric particles and possibly giving insights into the composition of about a quarter of the universe."

Although yesterday's success is certainly cause for celebration, it marks the very beginning of this experiment. Up to two years of experiments will happen in the LHC at current levels and computer calculations will continue for even longer, despite the fact that these calculations will be undertaken using 'the Grid', a vast network of computers that will process 15m gigabytes of data a year.

Follow developments directly with CERN or on Twitter.