This year marks a major milestone in the history of elementary particle physics. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest and most powerful particle collider ever built, will begin operations at the CERN Laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. With the commissioning of its 27 kilometer-long beam lines and colossal detection systems, the LHC will usher a landmark period of research allowing physicists to illuminate previously unseen workings of the subatomic world. This seminar will cover the fundamental concepts and questions about our quantum universe, the technology and techniques used to explore physics at scales many millions times smaller than the atom, and explore some relations between physics at the quantum scale with cosmology. Special attention will be given to new reports from the experiments at the LHC as they embark on their maiden voyages of discovery.
This class would be most accessible for second year students having a general interest in science with math 121/131 or instructor permission as a pre(co)requisite. It will be offered in Spring 2009.