The Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, has begun its study of physics at distances 10,000 times smaller than an atomic nucleus. This accelerator and its experiments are enormous in many respects---in the physical size of the facilites, in the sizes of the experimental teams, but also in the stakes for our understanding of elementary particles, mass, and the universe.
In this colloquium, Dr. Peskin will describe the physics questions that motivate the LHC experiments, the detectors that are designed to meet these goals, and the challenges that the experiments must overcome.
Dr. Peskin will show some of the first results from the LHC, including the status of the search for the much-anticipated Higgs boson.