Dean M Cole [Cole - Amplitude

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You can't do the end of the world in a boy meets girl way.

Terry Southern

Hold my beer.

Dean M. Cole

T oday, vee shall plumb the deepest reaches of the quantum realm. The colliders High-Luminosity upgrade vill shine the light of discovery upon hidden dimensions und singularities.

Unfortunately for the world, the German scientist had no idea how right he was.

Doctor Hans Garfield smiled inwardly. The director of CERNs High-Luminosity upgrade had said those words for the benefit of both the reporter and her cameraman just a few short minutes ago. In the intervening moments, hed stood the world of theoretical physics on its head.

The first successful collisions at the colliders new and significantly increased power levels had resulted in a resounding success.

This was going to be his Nobel Prize.

Hans placed a hand over his heart as he imagined the medal hanging there.

A slap on his back snapped Doctor Hans Garfield from his reverie.

We did it! Shouting to be heard above the cheers of the control rooms multiple occupants, the exuberant man paused and then shook his head curtly. Sorry. You! You did it, Doctor Garfield!

Hans gave the postdoctoral candidate his best, most disarming smile and then tilted his head toward the man. You vere correct the first time, Sampson. Vee did it, he said, his German accent rendering we as vee.

Turning from the man, Hans stared through the control room window. The large, cylindrical body of the ATLAS detector filled the majority of the view. He smiled and then nodded again. Yes, vee did do it.

He gave Sampson a sideward glance. Now please tell me that vee captured all the data.

The mans head bobbed up and down rapidly. Y-Yes. He bent over his keyboard, his fingers pecking out a series of commands. Heres the energy graph. Sampson stopped typing and pointed triumphantly, indicating a spike in the readings. There it is, sir.

Hans gave the man a beatific smile. There it is, indeed.

That spike of Hawking radiation would be the key to his Nobel Prize. The event that it represented was the penultimate moment that Hans had been working toward his entire career.

A feminine voice at his right shoulder rose above the excited cheers of the rooms numerous occupants. Is that it? The reporter pointed at the computer screen. Is that the black hole?

Nodding, Hans turned toward the woman. Yes and no. It is not the black hole itself, but the decaying remnant of the short-lived singularity. He gestured toward the peak in the data. That spike represents the burst of Hawking radiation that emitted an instant after I uh, vee created the black hole.

The woman from The New York Times tilted her head inquisitively. Hawking radiation?

Hans nodded. Yes, its a type of energy that Doctor Stephen Hawking theorized vould be released by an evaporating black hole.

The woman nodded dutifully, although Hans doubted she had comprehended a word of what hed said.

After a furtive glance through the control room window, she looked at Hans again. Arent you worried that youll create a black hole that will end up swallowing the entire planet?

It was all Hans could do not to roll his eyes. No, no. This is simply not possible. As I vas telling you before, an MBH

MBH?

Failing to stop the eye-roll this time, Hans sighed. Yes, a micro black hole.

The reporter, Miss Preston, he believed, nodded and scribbled something in her notes. She looked at her cameraman. Are you getting all this?

The man nodded.

Hans wasnt sure why a newspaper would need a video. He supposed it had to do with providing content to their online readers.

The reporter looked at Hans with raised eyebrows. Please, continue.

After checking on the status of his ongoing experiment, Hans turned back to the woman. Anyway, the MBH is of no threat to us. With a sweeping motion of his arm, he gestured toward the ATLAS detector. Vee are not doing anything that nature hasnt done millions of times right here on Earth. He pointed upward, jabbing his finger toward the ceiling. In our very atmosphere.

The reporter tilted her head. What do you mean?

Hans lowered his arm. Cosmic rays vith energy levels a million times greater than anything vee vill ever achieve on Earth bombard our upper atmosphere constantly. You see? Nature must create MBHs all the time. If they vere dangerous to us, the Earth und all celestial bodies vould have ceased to exist billions of years ago as micro black holes turned each one of them into a singularity. It vould be a cold, dark, lonely universe.

The woman chewed on his words for a moment and then tilted her head. So youve detected these bursts of Hawking radiation in our atmosphere?

Hans blinked, surprised by the insightfulness of the reporters question. He nodded for a moment but then shook his head. No. He waved dismissively. But that is likely because vee have never been close enough to an actual collision.

Miss Preston tilted her head toward the ATLAS detector. Until today?

Hans smiled and then nodded. Precisely.

The reporter looked through the control rooms wide observation window. And all of this is possible because of the luminosity upgrade?

Sehr gut, Miss Preston. Yes, vee recently completed the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider upgrade. Vee now have ten times more power than previous experimental runs.

He turned from the lady and looked at the computer console again. Now if you dont mind, vee have another iteration in the vorks.

Not waiting for the womans response, Hans turned back to Sampson. How are vee coming?

The American postdoctoral candidate nodded excitedly. Were up to ninety percent!

Hans returned the nod. Sehr gut.

He smiled inwardly. The selection committee would have no choice but to choose him for the next Nobel Prize in Physics.

Sampson pointed excitedly. Here it comes!

After glancing at the large cylinder of the ATLAS detector, Hans bent over his console and stared at its display with rapt attention. Twenty-three tera electronvolts! The energy level had reached the threshold. Start proton-proton collisions.

Nodding again, Sampson toggled the command on his console.