> when the LHC runs, the chambers housing the detectors experience intense radiation
I thought that it was very energetic but low intensity radiation (outside the main tunnel). Does anyone have more data about this? How many "normal radiography" equivalents do you get for standing there for a minute?
I took a tour of the ATLAS experiment last year, and the guide said that if the LHC was operating, the radiation where we were standing would be fatal in seconds.
Anywhere around the accelerator you are going to have massive cyclotron radiation ( ie. the photons emitted when you coerce of near light speed proton out of a straight line).
In addition, at the detectors themselves, you have all sorts of radiation from the collisions. Muon, gamma, etc.
The author does pass on a good point, the biggest danger is oxygen deprivation from liquid helium, argon, and I assume Nitrogen ( though not mentioned ).
Those are radio frequency cavities which accelerate the protons. A standing electromagnetic wave is formed which oscillates at just the right frequency so that the bunches are always accelerated as they pass from one section to the next.
I thought that it was very energetic but low intensity radiation (outside the main tunnel). Does anyone have more data about this? How many "normal radiography" equivalents do you get for standing there for a minute?