The Large Hadron Collider: The Start of a New Era or the End of the World?

The Large Hadron Collider was recently switched on, then broke and was switched on again. It has started producing collisions that probe Nature on the smallest distances yet reached. What broke when it was switched on? How does one detect what comes out of these collisions, and what can the result tell us about how Nature works on these scales? This talk briefly describes what we think we know, why it may be wrong, and whether (in either case) it will destroy the world.

Slides presented at the talk.

Cliff Burgess Home Page.

Cliff Burgess, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is a Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at McMaster University and a Research Associate at Perimeter Institute. Cliff, the most highly-cited theoretical particle physicist in Canada, was recently awarded the 2010 CAP-CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics by his peers. This award recognizes the many broad and deep contributions that Cliff has made to physics, in areas including high-energy physics, nuclear physics, string theory, early universe cosmology and condensed matter physics, which have cross-pollinated ideas and stimulated new avenues of research. Cliff is also an engaging, entertaining and popular speaker with a strong commitment to outreach as evidenced by the number of invited talks he has given to public audiences, undergraduates, teachers and high school students.