Includes index.

The story of matter. A few searching questions ; The smallest things ; Mysterium cosmographicum ; A particle primer ; The new quantum mechanics ; Three quarks for muster mark! ; Building the universe ; The Hubble deep field ; Moving forwards -- The world's most complicated machine. The end of the beginning ; Disappointment and setback ; Court case number 1:2008cv00136 ; Afterwards ; Overview : a proton's journey ; The journey to the LHC ; Collider basics ; The detectors -- The standard model, the Higgs, and beyond. Generation the first : an acrostic ; Feeling the force ; The Higgs field : achieving mass ; Feynman diagrams ; Searching for the Higgs ; Supersymmetry ; Exotica : going up, going down -- The Big Bang and the first 380,000 years. The Big Bang ; The critical density and [omega] ; The microwave background ; Primordial nucleosynthesis ; Inflation, flatness, horizons, and a free lunch ; The quark-gluon plasma ; ALICE : in experimental wonderland ; Matter/antimatter : it matters! ; Getting to the bottom of things -- Dark matters. Interstellar matters ; Where are we? ; Unraveling the nebula mystery ; The galaxy zoo ; The local group ; Galaxy clusters ; Where's the missing mass? ; All in a spin : dark matter found ; Gravitational lenses and anamorphic galaxies ; Some dark matter candidates ; ADMX ; Euclid's dark map ; The MOND alternative ; Dark Stars and Y(4140) -- Dark energy and an accelerating universe. The measure of the stars ; An expanding universe ; Death throes and distance ; Future sun : take one ; The degenerate world of white dwarfs ; Future sun : take two ; The case of IK Pegasus B ; High-z supernova surveys ; Dark energy and [delta]CDM cosmology ; A distant darkness ; Testing Copernicus -- The waiting game. Hoping for the unexpected ; Massive star evolution ; The strange case of RXJ1856.5-3754 and pulsar 3C58 ; Small, dark, and many dimensioned ; This magnet has only one pole! ; These rays are truly cosmic ; Looking forward to LHCf ; The king is dead! Long live the king! -- Appendix A. Units and constants -- Appendix B. Acronym list -- Appendix C. Glossary of technical terms.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the largest engineering project ever undertaken, and one of the most expensive. Why are physicists around the world so excited about it? What secrets of the universe does this gargantuan piece of machinery hope to reveal? What risks are there in operating it? Could the exotic particles that are produced in the collisions--including tiny black holes that should wink into and out of existence--between subatomic particles be a threat not only to humankind but to the planet itself? In this thorough and engaging review of cutting-edge physics and cosmology, you will learn why the collider was built and how it works. You will find out what scientists are hoping to find out and what current aspects of the Standard Model might need to be revised. You will even learn about the quest to identify so-called dark matter and dark energy, which many now feel make up most of what's out there. This is a wild ride into some very unfamiliar and strange territory, but it is well worth your time to explore, as the Large Hadron Collider is set to change some very fundamental ideas of our universe, from the smallest pieces that make it up to the grandest.