Solving the Universe's Mysteries, One Particle at a Time

The scoop: This summer scientists are ramping up the world's largest atom smasher, called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Particle physicist James Gillies hopes this mammoth machine beneath the France-Switzerland border will help humankind smash some of the universe's most elusive mysteries.

It's a great time to be a physicist. A particle accelerator 14 times more powerful than any before it, the LHC will soon allow scientists to break through the intellectual glass ceiling known as the Standard Model of particle physics.

The Standard Model is one of the biggest intellectual achievements of 20th century science because it describes the fundamental particles of which we're all made -- and the way they interact -- with remarkable precision. Yet just as the Mona Lisa's smile doesn't tell the full story of La Joconde, we know that the Standard Model gives an incomplete picture of the universe at the fundamental level. 

To break out of the Standard Model, we need to probe particles at the incredible energies found close to the Big Bang. Without the 27-kilometer-around LHC, we might as well have reached a brick wall while knowing that so much more lies beyond it. There's a great deal yet to be discovered about our universe, and the LHC is the machine that will help us get there.

First on our hit list is a particle known as the Higgs.

The Higgs is seen as the last missing piece of the Standard Model because it provides a way of understanding what gives particles -- and us -- mass. Perhaps a unique case in the history of science, the LHC is in a can't-lose situation: Either the Higgs or something else that achieves the same effect must reveal itself. Pinning down this quantum culprit will close a very important chapter in mankind's quest to understand the cosmos.

Perhaps more exciting would be the opening of a completely new chapter in particle physics. Consider this: We understand just four or five percent of what the universe is made of, and that's a shockingly tiny fraction. The rest has been labeled dark matter and energy. By revealing as yet unobserved particles, the LHC could take humanity's first steps into the remaining 95 percent of the unexplored universe.

The LHC is a crucial milestone for physics, and it will certainly enrich our knowledge of the universe. And beyond it? The biggest dilemma is gravity. This mysterious force that dominates the immense structure of the universe has, so far, defied all attempts of reconciliation with quantum mechanics (the theory underpinning the Standard Model).

Will the LHC lead us to a happy marriage, or at least an engagement? Maybe. Whether it does or not, though, that is the next frontier in mankind's quest to understand the universe.

James Gillies is a particle physicist-turned-communications professional who has been at CERN since 1986. He is a co-author of the book "How the Web was Born". The views expressed are the author's alone and do not represent the official position of Discovery Space.

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