Large Hadron Collider smashes beam intensity record, inches closer to discovering God particle

Already a record holder for mashing protons together at 7 TeV (trillion electron volts), the Large Hadron Collider can now add world’s brightest beam to its list of accomplishments. Beam intensity is a way of measuring the number of collisions in its 17-mile-long track, and a higher intensity means more impacts — which, in turn, means more data, increasing the likelihood that the elusive Higgs boson will rear its head (should such a thing exist). The LHC smashed the previous luminosity record set last year by the Tevatron collider . What’s next for the CERN team, with two world records under its belt? Largest beard of bees. Continue reading Large Hadron Collider smashes beam intensity record, inches closer to discovering God particle Large Hadron Collider smashes beam intensity record, inches closer to discovering God particle originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink