Post by glactus on Feb 16, 2008 5:50:01 GMT
High energy collisions by the nearly-completed Large Hadron Collider (LHC) may be able to generate particles that are sensitive to dimensions beyond our four dimensional space-time.
If these particles are detected, and if their characteristics can be measured, then perhaps the extra dimensions predicted by string theory may be proven to exist…
How can you measure the size of a room without actually measuring it? Forget measuring the room, you can't even see it! The room is invisible; it is outside your observational ability.
But what if you could bounce sound off the walls? Even better, what if the walls of the invisible room were made up of resonant particles, producing their own sound? If the sound from these resonant particles could then be analyzed, the shape of the invisible room would be known.
According to string theory, there are many "invisible rooms" that we, as observers, cannot experience. We are confined to our three dimensions of space and one dimension of time (although this may not always be the case), otherwise known as four dimensional space-time
In new research published by Gary Shiu, Bret Underwood, Kathryn Zurek at UW-Madison and Devin Walker at UC-Berkeley, quantum particles have been theorized to have the ability to resonate with dimensions beyond our universe.
The team predict particles carrying extra-dimensional signatures could be generated by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (nr. Geneva, Switzerland). At very high energies, Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravitons may be created for a brief moment, carrying the signatures with them.
credits:
Original source : Science Daily filed under: Physics.
This is part text only. See image, full text and all scientists involved at universetoday.com www.universetoday.com/2008/02/04/large-hadron-collider-may-help-us-glimpse-into-another-dimension/#more-12693
Article credit: Ian O'neill
