Circumnavigating the LHC, with Sleepwear

[beamjockey]

I just spoke with Judy Jackson, head of Fermilab's Office of Communication. She was wearing orange and blue pajamas.

"Well, I could go home and get some sleep," I said, "or I could blog."

"You should blog," Judy said. Predictable, but then I did open my big mouth.

Fermilab held a pajama party to watch beam go around the Large Hadron Collider for the first time. It's Wednesday daytime at CERN, but here the celebration started at 01:30. About 400 people showed up in the Wilson Hall atrium. We had a video link to CERN, where they're staging an even bigger event.



Fermilab is deeply involved in the LHC, as are other American national laboratories and universities. A remote operations center for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment has been built here. I imagine that pajamas will not often be worn there again.

There was speechmaking. I talked to various interesting people. The 450 GeV proton beam was brought to internal collimators at various points around the LHC, one segment at a time. At about 03:15 (Illinois time) they got the protons all the way around one ring. A hearty breakfast was served. As is traditional with new accelerators, a champagne toast was also drunk. I imagine that physicists are signing a bottle right now at CERN. There was more speechmaking. People who wore pajamas to the event were invited to pose for a group picture.

Okay, Judy, now I'm going home to nap.

Comments

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! Thanks for your post and yay for Fermilab. A pajama party was just the thing.

You do know you need to update your profile now, right? Ah, yup.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

A LHC programme had Brian Cox returning to Fermilab, which I'd never seen before. I did like the v-shaped building, does it work as a practical office block?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's a spectacular building, and works fine for offices and shops.

Wilson conceded, years later, that he should have installed more than four elevators, and that they should have gone all the way from the bottom to the top. (At first, only two shafts went from the ground floor to the 16th, so if you want to go from, say, 7 to G, you need to get into the right elevator, or go to 1 and switch shafts. A third elevator has since been extended downward.)

Wilson wanted to encourage informal encounters, and communication between employees at all levels. He liked the idea of a big central building.

Things are less central since large buildings were added for the collider experiments, CDF and D0, and for the Computing Division. So you have less chance of running into a random person in the Highrise. But it still holds the only cafeteria on site, and the credit union, and the big seminar rooms and 800-seat auditorium.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Now I'm getting itchy waiting for the published papers... a few years from now.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

A pajama party at Fermilab. Coolest thing ever!

[kristenparting.livejournal.com]

How the Higgs may help Kate Thayer, Kane County Chronicle 10 August The search for a tiny particle at Fermilab could lead to big things.

[tanac.livejournal.com]

fun :)

(and just think, if things had gone differently lo those many years ago, I might have been there! How's that librarian working out, anyways? :)

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

four. hundred. people.
OMG

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Thank you for not destroying the universe Mr. Physics Man.

[erikhendrysx.livejournal.com]

If you do it properly, you change man's relationship to the universe. Man's power in the universe is increased, per capita, and per square kilometer.

[isherempress.livejournal.com]

Neat-o! I was hoping you would share this with us. Love the pic, too. You look as handsome as ever. ;-) Please do let us know if the planet decides to implode. {xoxo} Amy

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

I did see the LHC show on the History Channel last night. Good to know if the Earth is be swallowed by a Black Hole, the French and the Swiss will be the first to surrender. {grin}

So, it was one stream of protons in one direction? Did it get up to full speed? Near the speed of light?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

It was one stream in one direction, at the injection energy of the now-venerable SPS (the machine that gave you the W and Z bosons), namely 450 GeV.

According to a spreadsheet I made up the last time somebody asked about speed, 450 GeV protons are moving at 99.9997826% of the speed of light, or 1458 miles per hour slower than the speed of light.

Their gamma-- time dilation factor-- is 479.6.

When CERN gets the LHC going, protons accelerated to an energy of 7 TeV will be moving at 99.9999991% of the speed of light, or 6 miles per hour slower than c.

[haroldpiotrows.livejournal.com]

First of all, mini black holes at the LHC are an option only if one of the theories of "large extra dimensions" was in fact true.

Pajama Party

[cestmoi1.livejournal.com]

So, the big question for any Pajama Party- especially one with such a creative group- is What Games did you Play???

[mrs-sweetpeach.livejournal.com]

I gotta say, you guys at Fermi are not just among the brightest folks in the known universe, you're also some of the most fun. Pajama Party for the win!

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

Great idea for a party. Also, nice picture!

I'm fascinated by the way this particular science experiment took hold among the general public. Must've been the thoughts of a near-death experience that hooked people.

[elaine-brennan.livejournal.com]

All so very cool! Thanks for blogging it.

[faerietithe.livejournal.com]

Gasp! There I am, to the right of Maria in the red pajamas! We have photos (We= Quarknet) of your radioactive pants, since you don't have them here, so when we upload them, I'll send you a link if you want it.

(You have no idea how many times I rewrote this because I messed up names.)

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd like to see your photos.

There was a gang of Quarknet people who came from Massachusetts for the event, which was an amazing and wonderful thing to do, but I had only a brief encounter with them. Another group came from Indiana.

Is this you in Popular Mechanics?

PJ Party

[(Anonymous)]

Congrats on the party...goes to prove PhD's are not fuddy duddy's like some people think... Can hardly wait for bidirectional beaming to commence. PS, the cafeteria at Fermi is awesome...!

Photos

[sszyszka.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Mr. Higgins,

I'd like to share some of the photos I took: http://pa.photoshelter.com/gallery-show/G0000hk4uhFcysug

It was an amazing event and I feel incredibly privileged that I was able to attend.

Re: Photos

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing. I've seen some of those photos on the Beacon-News site, and I heard that one of them was in the Trib today.

Re: Photos

[sszyszka.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Yeah, they got relatively good play. I'm glad, it was a very unique idea and people really ran with it.

[gypsy1969.livejournal.com]

And of course when I heard the announcement on the radio I thought of you.