9 ms·

Last week I had the chance to visit CERN's Antimatter Factory, and let me tell you I was feeling like a child on Christmas Day. The ridiculously advanced techn

Last week I had the chance to visit CERN's Antimatter Factory, and let me tell you I was feeling like a child on Christmas Day. The ridiculously advanced technology required to produce only a few picograms of antimatter is truly impressive. That they are considering sending it hundreds of km away is mind blowing.

ednite 1y ago
That's awesome. My wife and I have been thinking about visiting CERN too. Curious, what part of the visit stood out as especially impressive? Last I checked, there was a pretty long waiting list for tours.
- aaxa 1y ago
  I worked at CERN a few years ago, so assuming they haven't build any new amazing facilities, these would be my top picks: - Any of the experiments really, but especially ATLAS is impressive. - The antimatter factory. I found that the guides there are usually very passionate. - The control centre if you can get a tour (this is the facility I delivered software to).
  - pezezin 1y ago
    I work for the control group at another accelerator, so we were visiting and meeting their control guys. Super friendly people all of them, they treated us like kings... and their control centre is bigger than our whole facility xD
    - capitol_ 1y ago
      So they allowed you to know that you are in the control group? Doesn't that introduce bias ;)
      - pezezin 1y ago
        Sorry, I don't understand your comment :/
        cycomanic 1y ago
        He was referring that in many experiments (especially in medical/biological) you usually have a control group, e.g. the group that is being given a placebo. Took me a moment to understand it as well :)
        pezezin 1y ago
        Ah shit, you are right. I worked at a medical research center aeons ago so I should have known, but I am still dizzy from the jet lag xD
  - ednite 1y ago
    Thank you.
- amenghra 1y ago
  If you want to visit Atlas (control room) or CERN’s first accelerator (a synchrocyclotron) just show up in the morning when the visitor center opens. The tour guides are often passionate scientists. The museum is worth visiting, you’ll get to see the first www server (Tim-Berner Lee’s nextcube). The live shows are well put together. And everything is pretty much free of charge. The only thing I can think of that has a waiting period is if you want to visit the actual tunnels, you can only visit them in between experiments (every 10-20 years maybe even less often). More info: https://visit.cern/ https://visit.cern/
  - ednite 1y ago
    That is great news. The last time I checked, there was a long waitlist and needed to book online (maybe COVID-related?). Appreciate you sharing this story.
    - amenghra 1y ago
      This link might interest you: https://cms.cern/interact-with-cms/on-site-visits https://cms.cern/interact-with-cms/on-site-visits If the timing works out for you, you'll be able to visit both, the visitor center and CMS!
      - ednite 1y ago
        Definitely will check it out. Thanks on a subatomic scale!
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    Can you visit CMS? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Muon_Solenoid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Muon_Solenoid
    - amenghra 1y ago
      The presentations/videos talk extensively about CMS' detector (if I remember right). I'm not sure about visiting the control center, you would need to inquire if/when they do that.
mlindner 1y ago
I've seen this expressed before, but every picture I've seen of CERN just looks like a massive pile of wiring, magnets and generic electronics. So I'm not sure why people react like you do towards it. Is it different from seeing it in pictures? To me things like tokamak fusion reactors or rockets or even places like the massive piles of pipe work outside of SpaceX's launch site feel way cooler.
- poincaredisk 1y ago
  You are getting downvoted but it made me wonder (I visited CERN a few years ago). I guess there are two aspects in play. One, the pile is massive, which naturally inspires awe, especially in person. Two, I know that what I'm looking at is actually a unique super advanced piece of technology, which took countless hours to produce, and that influences how one sees it.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- bcraven 1y ago
  Perhaps it depends on what you work on day-to-day because "a massive pile of wiring, magnets and generic electronics" sounds _extremely_ cool to me!
- chii 1y ago
  It would be the same as someone visiting a modern art museum, and see weird spashes of paint and a banana nailed to a wall. It's all in the eyes of the beholder.
- pezezin 1y ago
  Because we are massive science nerds. I have been interested in this kind of stuff since I was a little kid. Which leads to the second point... I ended up working at another accelerator facility, so even though I am an IT guy, I actually understand what I am looking at, which helps to increase the enjoyment.
- sladoledar 1y ago
  When I look at that pile, I see hundreds or thousands of devices that need to be working in concert to produce a meaningful result. Devices that need to be triggered exactly when the particle bunch travels by at near speed of light. These devices then generate data that needs to be stored somewhere and in a way that is later useful to the scientists. The complexity hiding within the pile is immense, and that is what makes it impressive to me.
dwayne_dibley 1y ago
I designed some of the kit in that building! (Specifically for the alpha G experiment) Super proud of it.
- TuringTourist 1y ago
  Imagine inventing something like a better coffee carafe and being able to say this about a sizable portion of notable structures.
- asicsarecool 1y ago
  Not bad for a cat, nice work. Clearly you don't work in the cybernetics division.
  - coolcase 1y ago
    Not technically a cat. Evolved from the ships cat.
    - spiritplumber 1y ago
      Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal. Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal. Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal. Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal. Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
      - tialaramex 1y ago
        I will!
- pezezin 1y ago
  That is super cool, you should be proud. I took plenty of pictures of all the machines xD
Cthulhu_ 1y ago
You know, I never considered that it would be open to the public / tourism, I just added it to my bucket list. I mean I don't know much about the science they do other than the popular science summaries, but it's super interesting.
BrenBarn 1y ago
> The ridiculously advanced technology required to produce only a few picograms of antimatter is truly impressive. Also the persistence that is required because of the low "return on investment" is staggering. Another article linked from this one said: > The authors had to mix 10 million positrons with 700 million antiprotons in order to get get 38 certifiable antihydrogen events.
- lostlogin 1y ago
  > picograms I needed to know how much antimatter weighed and this article seemed helpful (though I am poorly placed to know if it’s correct). https://gizmodo.com/how-much-does-antimatter-weigh-492195828 https://gizmodo.com/how-much-does-antimatter-weigh-492195828
  - Wololooo 1y ago
    The same as matter basically. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10533407/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10533407/ The interesting idea behind it is basically that for antimatter a potential wall, imagine a step function which is 0 for negative and 1 for positive and a wave that hits the wall from the negative to the positives, in theory it cannot propagate in the wall, turns out that one solution can propagate in that wall and that's antimatter: It basically sees the potential as inverted. So since people were thinking about that they started considering that if it happens for EM interaction it could be the case for gravitation, that lead to wonder if the antimatter had different properties in that department. From a pure theory point of view the mass of the particles and anti particles should be identical but they might have "fallen up" instead of falling down. Note that if there are significant differences this would be extremely interesting but I am not deep enough into exotic theories that take into account those exotic cases to make more statements about the matter.
    - ashoeafoot 1y ago
      Does annhilation produce gravity relevant events as in lokal dark matter increase?
    - 1y ago

ednite 1y ago

That's awesome. My wife and I have been thinking about visiting CERN too. Curious, what part of the visit stood out as especially impressive? Last I checked, there was a pretty long waiting list for tours.

aaxa 1y ago
I worked at CERN a few years ago, so assuming they haven't build any new amazing facilities, these would be my top picks: - Any of the experiments really, but especially ATLAS is impressive. - The antimatter factory. I found that the guides there are usually very passionate. - The control centre if you can get a tour (this is the facility I delivered software to).
- pezezin 1y ago
  I work for the control group at another accelerator, so we were visiting and meeting their control guys. Super friendly people all of them, they treated us like kings... and their control centre is bigger than our whole facility xD
  - capitol_ 1y ago
    So they allowed you to know that you are in the control group? Doesn't that introduce bias ;)
    - pezezin 1y ago
      Sorry, I don't understand your comment :/
      - cycomanic 1y ago
        He was referring that in many experiments (especially in medical/biological) you usually have a control group, e.g. the group that is being given a placebo. Took me a moment to understand it as well :)
        pezezin 1y ago
        Ah shit, you are right. I worked at a medical research center aeons ago so I should have known, but I am still dizzy from the jet lag xD
- ednite 1y ago
  Thank you.
amenghra 1y ago
If you want to visit Atlas (control room) or CERN’s first accelerator (a synchrocyclotron) just show up in the morning when the visitor center opens. The tour guides are often passionate scientists. The museum is worth visiting, you’ll get to see the first www server (Tim-Berner Lee’s nextcube). The live shows are well put together. And everything is pretty much free of charge. The only thing I can think of that has a waiting period is if you want to visit the actual tunnels, you can only visit them in between experiments (every 10-20 years maybe even less often). More info: https://visit.cern/ https://visit.cern/
- ednite 1y ago
  That is great news. The last time I checked, there was a long waitlist and needed to book online (maybe COVID-related?). Appreciate you sharing this story.
  - amenghra 1y ago
    This link might interest you: https://cms.cern/interact-with-cms/on-site-visits https://cms.cern/interact-with-cms/on-site-visits If the timing works out for you, you'll be able to visit both, the visitor center and CMS!
    - ednite 1y ago
      Definitely will check it out. Thanks on a subatomic scale!
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  Can you visit CMS? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Muon_Solenoid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Muon_Solenoid
  - amenghra 1y ago
    The presentations/videos talk extensively about CMS' detector (if I remember right). I'm not sure about visiting the control center, you would need to inquire if/when they do that.

mlindner 1y ago

I've seen this expressed before, but every picture I've seen of CERN just looks like a massive pile of wiring, magnets and generic electronics. So I'm not sure why people react like you do towards it. Is it different from seeing it in pictures? To me things like tokamak fusion reactors or rockets or even places like the massive piles of pipe work outside of SpaceX's launch site feel way cooler.

poincaredisk 1y ago
You are getting downvoted but it made me wonder (I visited CERN a few years ago). I guess there are two aspects in play. One, the pile is massive, which naturally inspires awe, especially in person. Two, I know that what I'm looking at is actually a unique super advanced piece of technology, which took countless hours to produce, and that influences how one sees it.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
bcraven 1y ago
Perhaps it depends on what you work on day-to-day because "a massive pile of wiring, magnets and generic electronics" sounds _extremely_ cool to me!
chii 1y ago
It would be the same as someone visiting a modern art museum, and see weird spashes of paint and a banana nailed to a wall. It's all in the eyes of the beholder.
pezezin 1y ago
Because we are massive science nerds. I have been interested in this kind of stuff since I was a little kid. Which leads to the second point... I ended up working at another accelerator facility, so even though I am an IT guy, I actually understand what I am looking at, which helps to increase the enjoyment.
sladoledar 1y ago
When I look at that pile, I see hundreds or thousands of devices that need to be working in concert to produce a meaningful result. Devices that need to be triggered exactly when the particle bunch travels by at near speed of light. These devices then generate data that needs to be stored somewhere and in a way that is later useful to the scientists. The complexity hiding within the pile is immense, and that is what makes it impressive to me.

dwayne_dibley 1y ago

I designed some of the kit in that building! (Specifically for the alpha G experiment) Super proud of it.

TuringTourist 1y ago
Imagine inventing something like a better coffee carafe and being able to say this about a sizable portion of notable structures.
asicsarecool 1y ago
Not bad for a cat, nice work. Clearly you don't work in the cybernetics division.
- coolcase 1y ago
  Not technically a cat. Evolved from the ships cat.
  - spiritplumber 1y ago
    Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal. Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal. Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal. Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal. Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
    - tialaramex 1y ago
      I will!
pezezin 1y ago
That is super cool, you should be proud. I took plenty of pictures of all the machines xD

Cthulhu_ 1y ago

You know, I never considered that it would be open to the public / tourism, I just added it to my bucket list. I mean I don't know much about the science they do other than the popular science summaries, but it's super interesting.

BrenBarn 1y ago

> The ridiculously advanced technology required to produce only a few picograms of antimatter is truly impressive. Also the persistence that is required because of the low "return on investment" is staggering. Another article linked from this one said: > The authors had to mix 10 million positrons with 700 million antiprotons in order to get get 38 certifiable antihydrogen events.

lostlogin 1y ago
> picograms I needed to know how much antimatter weighed and this article seemed helpful (though I am poorly placed to know if it’s correct). https://gizmodo.com/how-much-does-antimatter-weigh-492195828 https://gizmodo.com/how-much-does-antimatter-weigh-492195828
- Wololooo 1y ago
  The same as matter basically. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10533407/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10533407/ The interesting idea behind it is basically that for antimatter a potential wall, imagine a step function which is 0 for negative and 1 for positive and a wave that hits the wall from the negative to the positives, in theory it cannot propagate in the wall, turns out that one solution can propagate in that wall and that's antimatter: It basically sees the potential as inverted. So since people were thinking about that they started considering that if it happens for EM interaction it could be the case for gravitation, that lead to wonder if the antimatter had different properties in that department. From a pure theory point of view the mass of the particles and anti particles should be identical but they might have "fallen up" instead of falling down. Note that if there are significant differences this would be extremely interesting but I am not deep enough into exotic theories that take into account those exotic cases to make more statements about the matter.
  - ashoeafoot 1y ago
    Does annhilation produce gravity relevant events as in lokal dark matter increase?
  - 1y ago