A team of ISU researchers will take part in a scientific endeavor involving leading worldwide scientists exploring the cutting edge of physics.

When the Large Hadron Collider, a device that crashes protons together at nearly light speed, is fired up for the first time in the summer of 2007, it will recreate conditions similar to what the universe was like just fractions of a second after the big bang occurred.

“Having us involved is a real unique opportunity for Iowa State to be in the forefront of this research,” said Eli Rosenberg, professor and chairman of physics and astronomy and leader of Iowa State’s high-energy research team.

Rosenberg said the team chose to work on this project because it is one of the most interesting and important projects out there.

The collider, he said, is being built underground in a 17 mile-around tunnel that crosses the France-Switzerland border near Geneva, Switzerland, which means ISU professors conducting the research must make week-long trips to conduct their work.

The team only has a post-doctoral research associate at the site at all times.

James Cochran, associate professor of physics and astronomy, just returned from a week in Geneva and said he is excited about the possibilities the collider presents.

“Physics is what drives us,” Cochran said. “[The collider] will allow us to gather a deeper understanding of nature.”

One of the main goals for the ATLAS detector, the specific section the ISU team is working on, is to detect the Higgs Boson, a hypothetical particle predicted in the Standard Model of particle physics.

According to the model, space is full of a Higgs field, and particles gain mass by interacting with the field.

As of yet, the Higgs Boson has not been detected, but finding it is integral to the expansion of particle physics.

“The Higgs Boson is needed for us to completely understand what is going on around us,” Rosenberg said.

Because of the large amount of ISU professors working on the project, others at Iowa State have a pipeline into the field.

Nathan Triplett, graduate student in physics and astronomy, will travel to Geneva this summer to do computer coding for one of the detectors.

He said he got the job because his adviser works on the project and he thought it sounded fascinating.

“It is interesting work because people want to know how the world and the universe work,” Triplett said.

Cochran said it is great for the team to be involved with an experiment that is such a forerunner in its field.

With approximately 2,000 scientists from across the globe working together, the end result is bound to be monumental, he said.

“It’s exciting to be a part of something that is so interesting and important that will create so much,” Cochran said. “It’s not like we are going to get toothpaste out of all this.”