Collider: The Search for the World's Smallest Particles Hardcover - 2009

From the jacket flap

Will the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) create a miniature black hole that could swallow up the Earth? Could it help explain the missing matter and energy in the universe? Will it point the way toward unifying the forces of nature? Might it reveal the God particle? "Collider" goes beyond explaining the mysteries of quantum mechanics and Einstein's theories to sort through a century of actual experiments, revealing how we know what we know, and what we hope to find out.

In this comprehensive guide to the theory, mechanics, and science behind experimental high-energy physics, award-winning physicist and celebrated author Paul Halpern gives you the tools you need to understand what the LHC is, what it hopes to discover, and why it is the biggest story in science today. You'll discover how the scientists running the project expect to shed light on the origins of the universe by recreating the conditions that existed just after the Big Bang and why that isn't nearly as scary as it sounds.

Halpern starts you off with a crash course in the essentials of physics. With clear explanations of the Standard Model, the four forces that govern the universe (weak, strong, gravity, and electromagnetism), and the vast array of particles already discovered using colliders, he helps you understand why scientists might be on the verge of confirming or disproving some of the predictions of string theory and how the LHC could help unlock the mysteries of dark matter, dark energy, supersymmetry, and portals to higher dimensions. You'll also find out why the theoretical Higgs boson is often referred to as the God particle and how its discovery could change our understanding of the universe.

No aspect of the LHC has received more attention than the fact that one side effect of the collision of particles at ultra-high speed is the creation of mini-black holes. Press coverage has focused heavily on fears that these superdense particles would start gobbling up everything around them and eventually swallow the entire Earth. Halpern provides a clear and detailed explanation of why these fears, and the storm of publicity that has spread them, amount to a tempest in a very tiny teapot.

So, relax! The world will not come to an end any time soon, but we may learn a lot more about it in the blink of an eye. Read Collider and find out what, when, and how.

Media reviews

Citations

• Choice, 06/01/2010, Page 0
• Publisher's Weekly Annex, 08/03/2009, Page 0
• Scitech Book News, 09/01/2009, Page 43