Are there any articles or discussions about the possible danger of particle physics research?

Question

Before the atom bomb was first exploded, the scientists thought about the possibility of setting the atmosphere on fire, or that the fission would spread. Similarly, partlcle physics research is on the edge of the unknown. It is at least possible that if the energy is high enough, we would release some catastrophic force.

Is the possibility being discussed?

Answer 1

Yea, mini black holes.

See: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14923900/

Answer 2

Of course. But not in a language you would easily understand without being a particle physicist. And since the result is pretty trivial, there is no need to make a big fuss about it.

The most naive analysis why no man made accelerator has any potential of doing harm to earth is simply based on the fact that Earth receives orders of magnitude more high energy radiation from space in form of cosmic rays than any accelerator could ever produce. Not only that but the energies of those particles are also much higher than what we can make ourselves. So if any of the accelerator facilities could make anything that could "set the earth on fire", create a black hole or any other nonsense you read, it would have happened the natural way a long time ago.

A particle accelerator has only one advantage over cosmic rays as a radiation source: everything happens in a tiny controlled volume inside a giant detector. Because you can steer the point where particle interactions happen so precisely, you can measure the parameters much more precisely than you ever could in a experiment where the cosmic ray hits where it hits, be that one mile from your detector or one hundred. The chances of it hitting right were you need it are practically zero. The chances of your beam in an accelerator being where it is wanted are 100%. Also in an accelerator you get particles of one energy, in nature the energy fluctuates by ten orders of magnitude, or more. That alone eliminates many possible experiments (especially the ones that keep looking for resonances).

That's it... that's the whole reason why we build accelerators, to control position and energy of the particles we want to look at. We do not build them to make particles of higher energy than nature makes. We are not even close to what nature makes!

And no, particle physics is rarely on the edge of the unknown. The facilities are designed with a lot of care to test for the theoretically already predicted. They do not search for things that nobody expects to see. Quite the contrary. But again, you would have to be an expert who can understand the publications in the field to know that. There is no easy way to convey these things except maybe by saying "Trust me!", which is pretty meaningless if you don't already.

You are welcome to read all the publications, though. They are all out in the open. High energy physics is as open as it comes in terms of information. All you need to do is to go online and visit a physics library. Its all there. Paid for by your tax dollars and freely available to you.

Have fun!