To the usual reader of this blog, it can’t be any surprise that we are pretty excited about the Large Hadron Collider and the insight it might bring into the nature of our universe. In fact, you could be a bit afraid that it’s the only thing we’re capable of writing about these days, but what the heck…

We previously slated the startup of the proton-proton accelerator to sometime this fall, but now CERN has made an official statement including the planned date for the first test-runs. In short, it’s September 10th. A lot of pieces has to fall into place for this to happen, but at least they must be nearing a state where the first TeV proton beams can be smashed together an analyzed. It is not until around 2010 that the accelerator will reach maximum energy of around 7 TeV, but a lot of interesting physics could be revealed on the way there. By the way, 7 TeV is comparable to the energy it takes for you to pronounce one syllable of a word. It’s when applied to particles the size of an atom that it really kicks ass, accelerating it to velocities very close to that of the speed of light.

On another note, if you like me have been a bit confused as to what scientists are actually expecting and hoping to find, and what they are looking for when TeV energies are reached, you should go read this comprehensive list at the (very cool) science blog, Cosmic Variance. It’s a nice collection of possible outcome with estimates of the probability for finding each of them, although it is of course the authors personal estimates and views.