Didn't take into account the laws of physics

An accident occurred during the construction of the accelerator due to an error in calculations

The completion date for the largest facility for physics experiments, the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, is under threat. The European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced that on March 27, one of the accelerator magnets partially collapsed during testing. Within a week, the commission found out that the support could not withstand the longitudinal stresses that arose when three magnets worked together under high pressure conditions. The company that developed the device, the American Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), sadly stated that it simply overlooked this problem and did not test the stability of the system under such conditions.

This was the largest accident during the entire period of construction of the collider. Moreover, this trouble occurred just a few months before the end of construction - the accelerator was going to be commissioned in November 2007. Now the damaged magnet needs to be repaired, which may delay the completion of the long-awaited accelerator by several more months. For physicists, this is extremely disappointing, since the scientific community has very high hopes for the LHC: a unique accelerator can provide answers to a number of questions about the physical structure of our world that cannot be obtained with smaller installations.

The Large Hadron Collider was to become the main testing ground for physicists studying the behavior of elementary particles. It is a giant ring assembled in an underground tunnel 27 kilometers long, which lies under the border territories of France and Switzerland. The collider is located at a depth of 50 to 150 meters, along its length there are about 1,700 magnets that accelerate elementary particles (hadrons) to crazy speeds. The purpose of this installation, like the rest of the accelerators, is quite simple - you need to push the rushing particles “head-on” and see what happens in this hadron accident.

The design of this super-installation began in the 90s. To build the LHC, it was decided to dismantle the large electron-positron collider, which had bored physicists, built in 1989 in the same underground ring. Over the course of several years, the filling of the tunnel was gradually replaced with a more powerful one, recording devices, huge refrigerators were installed, which were supposed to lower the temperature in the working areas almost to absolute zero, and powerful superconducting magnets. For all this, the countries participating in the project had to spend about $1.8 billion.

The developers of the ill-fated magnet are now literally tearing their hair out: after all, the accident occurred not because of any shortcomings during assembly or installation, but also because of a banal miscalculation by the designers. Fermilab director Pierre Oddone, while sprinkling ashes on his head, did not hesitate to use harsh language in his public statement. “Last Tuesday we sat in a puddle in front of the whole world,” wrote Monsieur Oddon. “We are dumbfounded that we lost sight of a very simple balance of forces,” the Fermilab leader repented. Now the developers, together with CERN, are trying to understand how quickly they can fix the unexpected problem. In this regard, the center's press secretary, James Gillies, noted that it is not yet possible to say whether the construction of the collider will fit into the planned schedule.

Vladimir DZAGUTO