| Spotlight
Prof. Sultana Shafee shares her views
on the LHC project by CERN
Ridwan Karim
 THE recent announcement made by European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) regarding the first attempt to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex, has provoked a lot of speculation in the world of science regarding the possible outcomes. Professor Sultana Shafee, Chairman, Department of Physics, University of Dhaka, shares the belief that this experiment may enhance our understanding of nature's forces by many folds and provide us with a critical insight into the fabric of the universe we live in. She outlines four possible outcomes of the experiment that can have potentially far-reaching implications in the world of particle physics. Firstly, this experiment can either prove or disprove the Salam-Weinberg-Glashow theory that unifies the weak and electromagnetic force within an atom, depending on whether the all-important Higg's Boson can be detected, otherwise known as the God's particle. Secondly, the project should be able to verify the properties of the Quark-Gluon plasma, a phase which exists at extremely high temperature and/or density. Thirdly, there is the fascinating possibility of the formation of a black hole of very small dimensions once the opposing beams of proton collide within the LHC. Finally, the experiment can uncover strong evidence in favor of Bose's Law of symmetry by discerning the elusive anti-particles. With so much at stake, it is a small wonder that the world is agog to know how this projects turns out to be.
(Prof. Sultana Shafee is currently Chairperson, Dept. Of Physics, DU)
The Large Hadron Collider
Amin Hasan Kazi
RECENTLY, the scientific world greeted the inaugural test run of the experiments scheduled on 10th September 2008 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) facility of the CERN. It is an event of historical importance for the researchers working on the standard model of particle physics. Whether or not, the much sought after hypothetical particle called Higgs boson is experimentally found in the near future, the spin-off effects of the high-level technological and scientific endeavour involved in the LHC enterprise will, in the long run, reach other disciplines beyond the highly specialized area of particle physics. The history of physics in the last century is replete with similar scientific pursuits that started within some narrow targets, but eventually reached the rest of the civilized world. I personally hope that research programmes of this magnitude and importance will inspire our younger generation of students to take up the challenge of pursuing research in pure science.
Former Chief Scientific Officer,
(Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission)
PhD in Theoretical Particle Physics,
University of Hamburg, 1977
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