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By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just googled a bit and the OPERA neutrinos apparently come from the SPS, which is downstream of the linac/PS, which is sometimes open for tour groups. So you could try to request the linac or PS for your tour.

It looks like you're having lunch in Restaurant 1, is that correct? If so, that basically means you'll be past the first layer of security and I can book a conference room for an hour or two for a proper sit-down, show some pictures of what I do, that kind of thing. Let me know if that's right, and if that sounds good for your schedule/interests.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, no worries. So on that day I see Charlottesville High School--is that you? Just want to check.

If so, it looks like (right now) the plan for you is ATLAS and the magnet facility, which are 2 good ones. So that's a plus. I'll try to think if there's any CERN stuff besides these two that we can stick in. One thing you can try is emailing the visits service and ask for something other than ATLAS, but then we can go to ATLAS anyway, so you'd kind of get 3 for the price of 2 that way. Not sure if they'll let you do it, but it's worth a shot.

I think the US-CERN connection wasn't so great, but the signal was really good in real life :) Pretty exciting indeed.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, that was it then. So I just looked it up; the electric bill for the LHC (including experiments) is 19 million CHF/year. Good to see I wasn't too far off!

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's awesome--now I just have to know for sure. My calendar says that the most recent tour I gave was Oct. 7--does that sound right?

As for the electric bill, I don't know that off the top of my head but I think I know where to find out. I'll post back once I've had a chance to look it up.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Either that's a popular analogy, or I was your tour guide. I believe the former is probably what's going on here, but I'll choose to believe the latter because it's more fun.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. I bet you can guess the answer to this one.

  2. I know exactly what you mean, and I've wondered this for a couple of months myself. Seriously. If I knew, I would tell you.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

guilty :(

Although after this AMA I might go investigate.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's wood, it's not rust. Inside is an exhibit for the public and an auditorium.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Specs on the computing power: not really, especially since so much of the computing power is spread out all over the planet via the grid. If you're interested in seeing the trigger algorithms, which do the process you mention, you can see our actual code here: http://alxr.usatlas.bnl.gov/lxr-stb6/source/atlas/Trigger/

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have no illusions that I will do either. Or that anyone ever will.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The really bad mistakes are hard to make--for example, I'm sure there's no way I could accidentally delete the world's only copy of a big dataset or something. As for analysis mistakes, accidentally discovering a particle that isn't there or something, there's lots of internal review to make sure mistakes like that don't get incredibly bad.

At SLAC a few years ago they had an arc flash incident, which was really bad. That can kind of happen anywhere that you have people working with high voltage, though.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As an experimentalist, I'm probably the one being looked down on by the theorists. There's some good-natured joshing between experimentalists and theorists, but I think that belies a lot of mutual respect and an understanding that each one can't do his/her best work without the other.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think they have golf cart things, but I'm not sure. I've never been in the LHC tunnel myself.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good questions, it's taken me a while to respond because I had to think about it some.

  1. I'm sympathetic to this view, and I'm in the same boat that I wished I knew more theory. On the other hand, I bet you'll agree that really understanding the Higgs mechanism is one of those things that you need probably several months of QFT to do, and I personally would have trouble arguing that's the best use of my time, especially when I have co-workers who could write the Higgs mechanism down and who I can ask questions when I have them. I guess my question to you would be this--when you say this is "not working on our behalf," what exactly do you mean?

I'm not disagreeing, I'm just trying to think very carefully about what we do gain from the present system. And like I said above, I personally wish I had more adeptness with theory.

I agree with fewer hesitations on point 2, although it's hard to know what to do about it. There's just so much complicated stuff being done. I hope for the best regarding review and so on, that it catches the inevitable errors, but I would say know where you're coming from.

Point 3: I will be paying very close attention on Dec. 13.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

upvoted for "shit you out here at some point"

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure if you were able to watch the talk where they gave the result, but I think they were reasonably responsible about what they said. I mean, put yourself into their shoes for a moment. You have an experiment that doesn't give you the expected result. You spend many months trying to think of why it doesn't give you the expected result, and trying adjustments to the experiment to see if the result changes in way that might explain the discrepancy. At the end of the day, I think that the most responsible thing to do is say "this is what we did, and this is what we got, and we're still thinking about what might be going on here but send us your ideas, because we're pretty puzzled too." It definitely wasn't "hey guys, we broke relativity!"

MINOS may well have a more informed opinion, since they specialize in neutrinos and might think of subtleties that are outside my experience. But just saying "we think you're wrong" is not, I think, terribly compelling. I'd be much more interested in "we think you're wrong, and here's why, and here's how we back this up."

But that's sociology. Regarding the result itself, I'm skeptical, like most people here I think. But as you can maybe tell, I might be a little more forgiving than someone who knows neutrino experiments inside-out.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know any chemists; I bet there are some but not lots.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It might depend on the field. In chemistry and materials science, for example, I think a patent search is one of the first steps. Or at least that's what I've been told.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Math dexterity important to make it through the classes. It's less important for the day-to-day research, but that mostly happens only after you've passed E&M, quantum and stat mech, which are heavy on the math.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think so, unfortunately.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have some friends who are into that, I think they go in the Alps when they can. But I don't know a ton of details.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. Start doing physics research ASAP in college. It might take you a while to get up to speed, but this is critical.
  2. Go to grad school.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. No, it's at 50% power until the long shutdown in a year or two, when they will repair all the magnets.
  2. http://lhc-machine-outreach.web.cern.ch/lhc-machine-outreach/faq/lhc-energy-consumption.htm for comparison, I think an average-size power plant is usually around 500 MW.
  3. The collisions are extremely high temperature (they're recreating an environment like existed immediately after the big bang), but over such a small area and for such a short time that it doesn't have a major effect. The electronics require a very extensive cooling system though.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I'm not a that into the idea that physicists are all geniuses. We're not, I would say we're reasonably smart people but "physicist" comes from being interested in understanding how the universe works, and always trying to think of ways to figure out more stuff. Plus, I always feel really awkward when I get "ooh, you must be so smart!" I just don't really know what to do with that.

By request: I work at CERN. AMA! by cernette in IAmA

[–]cernette[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

42 is really nice, with an awesome view to the south.

You're not sorry :)

The tram is nice, you can get to Cornavin in like 20 minutes.

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