The Atlas project
The Atlas project is one of two general-purpose detectors that will study subatomic particle interactions with the Large Hadronic Collider (LHC). The LHC and Atlas are being constructed at CERN (the European Center for Particle Physics), near Geneva, Switzerland. When it begins operating in 2007, the LHC will be the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator in the world. The Atlas experiment will search for new particles and phenomena, such as the Higgs boson, extra dimensions, and mini black holes. Discovery of any of these would drastically alter our understanding of the universe.

The Atlas experiment will generate more than one petabyte of experiment data per year. No single site can have enough computer power to analyze it all; thus, a tiered, multi-layered system of computer centers is under construction. Ultimately, this will empower physicists all over the world to access from their desktop the data they need.

For more information on the Atlas project, see: http://hep.physics.indiana.edu/~iuatlas/
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