Collider in the Sea: A Particle Accelerator Spanning the Gulf of Mexico Could Unlock New Physics

In 2012, scientists astatine the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known arsenic CERN, proved the beingness of the Higgs boson, the simple particle that grants different particles their mass. The discovery confirmed a mathematical mentation astatine the halfway of the Standard Model of physics, which tries to explains wherefore the carnal beingness works the mode it does. And it was lone imaginable acknowledgment to the Large Hadron Collider, a ringing of superconducting magnets buried hundreds of feet beneath CERN’s laboratories successful Geneva, Switzerland. The collider accelerates subatomic particles to highly precocious speeds and smashes them unneurotic to find retired what they’re made of.

Peter McIntyre, a physicist and particle accelerator adept astatine Texas A&M University, and his colleagues deliberation determination whitethorn beryllium much particles and earthy forces successful the beingness that, similar the Higgs boson, tin lone beryllium discovered done precocious vigor collisions—bigger collisions than the Large Hadron Collider tin create. Gizmodo interviewed him astir his ambitious proposal for a instrumentality that could marque those discoveries: A particle accelerator 2,000 kilometers successful circumference floating successful the Gulf of Mexico, which McIntyre and his colleagues person dubbed Collider successful the Sea.

This interrogation has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

Todd Feathers, Gizmodo: The Large Hadron Collider is 27 kilometers successful circumference. The collider you’ve projected gathering successful the Gulf of Mexico is astir 2,000 kilometers successful circumference. Why is bigger better?

Peter McIntyre: The happening that paces what the hadron collider tin bash is that tremendous ringing of superconducting magnets that makes the magnetic tract that is the racetrack that the proton beam goes around. The magnetic fields successful the magnets of the Large Hadron Collider person a tract spot of astir 8 Tesla; that’s astir 80,000 times the tract spot of the Earth’s magnetic field.

The dilemma you look successful trying to marque a higher vigor collider is you either person to marque a higher magnetic tract strength, which is technologically precise challenging. It means you person to spell to much exotic superconductors than our bully aged person niobium-titanium. Or, you person to get retired the tunnelers and passageway a overmuch larger circumference tunnel.

A consortium of scientists successful Europe and successful the U.S. and successful Japan and successful China person been moving separately and unneurotic connected projects to effort to make the mode to physique higher tract spot superconducting dipoles, the magnets you would request to bash that, with a extremity being the 16 Tesla that would beryllium doubly the [Large Hadron Collider] tract strength. As of today, lone 1 magnet has been operated successfully up to that tract and nary magnets person been made that would person a geometry due [for a collider].

So that motivated me. It’s wherefore I had my dope dream, truthful to speak, of a collider successful the sea. I’m proposing to spell up to 2,000 kilometers successful circumference and marque a ringing that would inscribe the Gulf of Mexico. I acceptable that standard somewhat arbitrarily by what Mother Earth has sitting determination disposable to us. That 2,000-kilometer circumference would alteration you to physique a collider that’s 500 tera-electron-volt collision energy. [Editor’s note: For comparison, the Large Hadron Collider produces collisions astatine 14 TeV.]

It would unfastened a scope for discovery. If parent quality has caller fields of quality that are retired determination to beryllium found, that would beryllium ample capable to marque it a gambling man’s bully stake [that we could find them].

Gizmodo: What is simply a particle accelerator and however does it work?

McIntyre: In the lawsuit of a hadron collider, you commencement with a vessel of hydrogen gas. The state is ionized by putting it into a compartment that contains electrodes and an aggravated vigor frequence field.

That is capable to portion the electrons disconnected the nuclei of the hydrogen atoms and that gives you a bare proton. The proton is the nucleus of the hydrogen atom. It’s the cardinal gathering artifact of each nuclei and it’s the nucleus of each hydrogen atom successful our beingness and successful our world. So it’s a jim-dandy happening to commencement with if you privation to probe the interior operation of atomic matter.

You past instrumentality the stripped protons and accelerate them successful an electrical field. Typically what you bash is you usage a signifier of electromagnetic fields, which means they’re rapidly oscillating electrical and magnetic fields, to accelerate them to progressively higher kinetic vigor and you spell done a succession of specified accelerators.

When you yet get it up to astir arsenic precocious successful vigor arsenic you tin spell with that benignant of process utilizing a instrumentality called a linear accelerator, oregon LINAC, past you enactment them into the archetypal of a succession of circular accelerators wherever the beam is channeled by a beardown magnetic tract that causes it to spell astir successful a circular orbit.

As they’re going around, successful 1 determination oregon a fewer locations connected the ring, you insert vigor frequence cavities that each clip they travel astir it gives them a footwear successful the pants. You accelerate up arsenic precocious an vigor arsenic your circular ringing tin support, past you transportation it implicit to a wholly abstracted ring, a overmuch larger ring, and past you bash the aforesaid happening again.

And that’s what the [Large Hadron Collider] does contiguous to nutrient the highest vigor collisions ever made by man.

Gizmodo: Building an underwater ringing of magnets the size of the Gulf of Mexico seems beauteous challenging. How would it beryllium done?

McIntyre: You would instal them with distant operable vehicles, ROVs, which are modular operating instrumentality successful the satellite of marine exertion today.

You would run the ringing a 100 meters down nether the sea, which is neither connected the bottommost nor connected the top. On the apical would beryllium utterly unthinkable due to the fact that of each of the marine commerce of quality society. And adjacent the bottommost would beryllium a dubious proposition for a full clump of points of presumption due to the fact that of the topology of the bottom–it’s not planar.

So you’d beryllium making this neutral buoyancy, similar a submarine floating and sustaining it successful presumption utilizing a device, a perfectly modular device, called marine thrusters. It’s fundamentally conscionable similar an onboard motor, mounted connected a stem astatine respective locations on the ship. And the centrifugal tin beryllium turned 360 degrees. You tin rotate it successful immoderate absorption you privation to present thrust.

An array of those things connected this ringing of superconducting magnets would power the position, truthful it won’t drift successful the water currents. It’s beneath the level of harm’s mode for hurricanes, a hurricane could spell close implicit the apical of it and the collider wouldn’t adjacent cognize it was happening due to the fact that it’s 100 meters down.

I’ve presented this astatine planetary conferences of accelerator builders and nary 1 has travel up with a woody breaker successful those meetings. The questions I’m typically asked are ‘Well, Dr. McIntyre, you know, this is not the mode we physique hadron colliders.’ Well, my lone reply to that is, yes, I recognize that. Indeed, I’ve participated successful gathering a few. And each I’ll accidental to you is, successful my opinion, it’s not apt you’ll physique immoderate much successful the aboriginal unless you larn however to deliberation connected a bigger scenery than the mode you’ve been gathering things.

Gizmodo: How overmuch would the collider successful the oversea apt cost?

McIntyre: It’s precise problematic to propulsion costs retired astatine this signifier of specified a thing, but determination successful the vicinity of 20 to 30 cardinal dollars. Which is astir the aforesaid arsenic the nationalist has spent connected the full tract of precocious vigor physics successful its past successful the full world.

That’s a measuring instrumentality by which 1 would accidental it has astatine slightest not crossed what successful physics we telephone the unitarity bound. In different words, you’ve not truly gone nuts. If you did transcend what successful 1 imaginable aboriginal task would beryllium the sum full of each the expenditures ever made successful that full tract successful each of clip by each people, then, yes, you probably, should conscionable hide it.

But it doesn’t transverse that. Most of the different things that radical speech astir for specified a thing, successful my opinion, bash transverse that bound. But again, nary 1 is responsibly talking astir a outgo fig for immoderate of these things due to the fact that there’s a batch yet to beryllium done to get anyplace with them. I don’t person precocious hopes that I volition negociate to get enactment from our Department of Energy oregon anyone other to bash immoderate of that improvement toward a collider successful the sea, due to the fact that successful their guts, they don’t yet truly judge successful it.

Gizmodo: How assured are you that there’s thing other that could lone beryllium discovered with a bigger collider?

McIntyre: I would person to accidental I americium not assured determination are different point-like particles adjacent remotely wrong scope of a terrestrial accelerator oregon collider to observe them directly. I would accidental I’m powerfully hopeful, but I americium not confident.

Gizmodo: If there’s nary warrant we’ll find a caller particle, wherefore is it worthy spending tens of billions of dollars to physique a collider astatine this scale?

McIntyre: That’s a portion of epistemology. You can’t accidental wherefore it’s important until you cognize what it is.

When [Ernest] Rutherford did his experiments—which were conscionable arsenic whimsical successful his day—to observe the quality of an atom, it was a wholly heretical conception astatine that time. And erstwhile helium was asked by radical from the property ‘What value bash you spot successful that?’ He said, well, I’m not definite there’s thing terribly important oregon of applicable importance, but it’s terribly amusing.

Those were his words, right? But determination is astir thing successful our modern exertion that would beryllium imaginable without that knowing of atomic physics and of however the atom is organized and structured. Nothing.