New machine could change our view of the universe
The Large Hadron Collider, the biggest and most powerful particle accelerator ever built, started test runs in September.
Located on the border of France and Switzerland, the machine will allow physicists to ask — and answer — fundamental questions about the nature of the universe.
UC Davis has been part of the project since the beginning. In 1992, our campus was one of four U.S. institutions to sign a letter of intent to build the Compact Muon Solenoid, one of the principal detectors in the machine.
Thousands of scientists from around the world are now working on the colossal project. UC Davis researchers have worked on two components of the Compact Muon Solenoid, the smallest — the Forward Pixel Detector — and the largest, the Endcap Muon Detector.
Involved in the project from the physics department are software engineer Mike Case; postdoctoral researchers Aron Soha and Ricardo Vasquez Sierra; Professor John Conway; Associate Professors Robin Erbacher and Maxwell Chertok; research physicists Richard Breedon, Tim Cox and John Smith; and Machine Shop Manager John Thomson.
Other UC Davis participants include Winston Ko, dean of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Professor Emeritus Richard Lander; and Professors Mani Tripathi and David Pellett.
This slideshow highlights how UC Davis physicists contributed to the Forward Pixel Detector within the Compact Muon Solenoid. Parts of the detector were designed and built in the U.S. and carried to Switzerland as cabin baggage, before assembly and installation earlier this year.