Black holes, new dimensions and secrets of the universe – leading CERN scientist speaks at Imperial

Professor Tejinder Virdee to deliver the 2007 Schrodinger Lecture - News Release

Imperial College London news release

For immediate use
Thursday 15 November 2007

A leading scientist on the world's largest physics experiment at CERN in Switzerland, will deliver the annual Schrodinger Lecture at Imperial College London on Wednesday 21 November 2007 at 5.30pm.

Journalists are invited to attend the lecture given by Professor Tejinder Virdee, from Imperial's Department of Physics, on 'Discovering the Quantum Universe: the large Hadron Collider Project at CERN.'

Professor Virdee leads a 2,000 strong team of scientists from around the world on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) particle detector experiment, one of the two general purpose experiments due to start collecting data when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator is turned on next year.

Professor Virdee and his team are aiming to find new particles, detect mini black holes and solve some of the mysteries of the universe such as where mass comes from, how many dimensions there are and what constitutes dark matter.

The LHC will accelerate beams of particles around a 27km circular tunnel underneath the French/Swiss countryside. These particles will collide with each other – with higher energies than in any previous experiment – at the precise moment that they are passing through the CMS detector.

The high-energy conditions of these collisions will be similar to those that occurred in the first instants of the universe, immediately after the Big Bang. The collisions will create many new particles, which will fly away from the site of the collision in all directions. The different layers of the CMS detector will measure their energies and track their paths.

Professor Virdee and his colleagues hope to record the presence of particles that have never been seen before, including the Higgs-Boson particle which has been theorised but never recorded.

"It would be a real coup if we recorded, for the first time ever, the existence of the Higgs-Boson particle," he said. "Scientists believe the Higgs-Boson is the particle that gives the property of mass to other particles such as electrons and so on. If we can prove that it exists and that this is the case, we will have taken a big step towards a much fuller understanding of how the universe works, and indeed, what happened in the instants immediately after it was formed."

Professor Virdee's lecture will outline current progress towards the switch-on of the LHC, anticipated in May 2008. He will talk about the construction of the 12,500 tonne, 21-metre-long detector, the challenges the team have overcome in designing and building it, and the results he hopes to see when the machine begins to take data next year.

Attendance at the lecture is by ticket only. Anyone wishing to attend the lecture should register in advance by emailing amy.thompson@imperial.ac.uk

For more information please contact:
Danielle Reeves, Imperial College London Press Office,
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 2198
Mob: +44 (0)7803 886248
Email: Danielle.reeves@imperial.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

1. For full details of the 2007 Schrodinger Lecture go to: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/eventssummary/event_15-12-2006-15-40- 1?eventid=3262

2. About Imperial College London

Rated as the world's fifth best university in the 2007 Times Higher Education Supplement University Rankings, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts over 12,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality.

Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

With 66 Fellows of the Royal Society among our current academic staff and distinguished past members of the College including 14 Nobel Laureates and two Fields Medallists, Imperial's contribution to society has been immense. Inventions and innovations include the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fibre optics. This commitment to the application of our research for the benefit of all continues today with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to tackle climate change and mathematical modelling to predict and control the spread of infectious diseases.

The College's 100 years of living science will be celebrated throughout 2007 with a range of events to mark the Centenary of the signing of Imperial's founding charter on 8 July 1907.

Website: www.imperial.ac.uk