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CERN's April Fools' Day Prank: Proposal For A 'Space Elevator' Accelerator (home.cern) 18

New submitter catmar68 writes: CERN proposes "space elevator" accelerator to answer this fundamental question: "Do antimatter apples fall up?" From the press release: The true question, they say, is whether antimatter apples fall down differently. If a difference were spotted, it would spell the end of "CPT invariance" -- a principle that has underpinned every theory of physics since the invention of quantum mechanics. "The Standard Model of particle physics has been very successful, but it can't explain the 95% of the universe which is 'dark', and neither Einstein nor any physicist since has been able to cook up a working theory of quantum gravity," says theorist Flora Oilp. "It's time to challenge its most fundamental principle head-on." The way forward, according to Oilp and her colleagues, is to build a vertical accelerator that will put gravity to the test directly. Every previous particle accelerator has been horizontal. A combination of high speeds and frequent course corrections using focusing magnets has always meant that the effect of gravity can be neglected. But by utilising a range of new, revolutionary techniques, including accelerating particles upwards inside a vacuum vessel, and timing how long they take to fall back down to Earth, physicists can study the elusive fourth force directly. Furthermore, by comparing results with protons and antiprotons, they can watch for signs of "CPT violation." Such behaviour cannot be explained using conventional theories, which rely on this principle to ensure the conservation of probability.

The accelerator would be built in two stages. Stage one proposes a 500 m vertical accelerator, starting from the base of the LHC shafts. An exciting collaboration with NASA may come to fruition by utilising detectors on the International Space Station (ISS) to detect beams of particles fired by the accelerator every time the ISS is overhead. This "reverse cosmic-ray" experiment would allow the measurement of Earth's gravity on particle trajectories at unprecedented levels. Stage one will seek to match the roughly 1% precision on measurements of the gravitational constant "g," which is currently being targeted in parallel by experiments with antihydrogen at the Laboratory's Antimatter Factory. This moderate build will also allow engineers and physicists to understand the intricacies of running a vertical accelerator in preparation for stage two -- the space elevator.
"If built, however, this advanced particle accelerator would nevertheless be three times taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which has been the tallest structure in the world since 2009."
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CERN's April Fools' Day Prank: Proposal For A 'Space Elevator' Accelerator

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  • Best way to making things go up? Tell a bunch of people it can't be done.

  • by hcs_$reboot ( 1536101 ) on Thursday April 01, 2021 @10:29AM (#61224362)
    on the head of an anti-Newton
    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      I'm anti-Newton. His math is totally fake. The apple was bigly rigged, believe me! It wasn't even an apple, that's how fake it all was. I and I alone invented gravity and I know completely how it works: Rosie's face repels particles and people. The only particle it doesn't repel is croutons. She eats boatloads of croutons while breaking her bed in front of those proven liars at CNN. #MGGA!

  • maybe in an Resonance Cascade they do but then we may need to nuke it and get an captain and XO willing to do an launch.

  • by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Thursday April 01, 2021 @10:46AM (#61224416)

    More seriously, two real experiments to see if gravity affect antimatter the same as it does matter are ongoing. Would be major disruption to known physics if difference found

    https://home.cern/news/news/ex... [home.cern]

  • by ZiggyZiggyZig ( 5490070 ) on Thursday April 01, 2021 @10:52AM (#61224438)

    Well I am intrigued by your April fools' idea and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

  • ... is the next century's serious science experiment.

  • Vertical particle accelerator to test antimatter vs. gravity

    "If you're just joining us, the new giant vertical particle accelerator came online today, and tens of thousands have committed suicide because Thanos is coming. Another tens of millions fell to their knees and wept because Ellie was really going, but watch out for that platinum blond bastard!"

  • Is that it must be funny. There needs to be enough absurdity and whimsy to provoke at least a slight grin. Don't spend a lot of effort on something that is not going to amuse anyone, it only makes the whole Aprils Fool thing feel forced.

  • I think this would be a no-brainer to build if the scientists could stop bickering and come to an agreement over the high precision required by the turbo encabulator's six hydrocoptic marzlevanes.

    While one side says forty-two decimal places of precision within the ambifacient lunar waneshaft would give significance to the malleable logarithmic casing for the marzlevanes. The other side, of course, disagrees claiming instead that it would only need sixty-nine decimal places of precision for the tremmie pipe

  • I am assuming they can physically make the change over, yeah. I don't think the big companies have made the commitment to make the shift. do my project [writemyessay.onl]

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