6
Tuesday, December 1, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Super collider will answer key questions of physics
Project to be opportunity for earning money and also advancing technological prowess
By MARK TILFORD
Staff writer
When some people are talking about the Superconducting Super Collider, dollar signs seem to appear in their eyes.
But for John Ralston, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas, the super collider means something much more important: the use it is intended for.
"Physics itself is not designed to produce practical devices," Ralston said. "The job of physics is to find out new knowledge. That is the purpose, I think, of science — to explore the unknown."
Physics is the study of matter and how it forms to make up the physical world. It is the most basic of sciences.
But physicists have used all their keys to open doors in the world of physics. The number of applications of physics, according to Ralston, is limited by what is known about physics. The super collider is, to the physicist, a master key that can open many more doors.
By slamming beams of protons together, the super collider will attempt to create physical matter out of pure energy.
"Literally M (multiplied by) C squared equals E." Ralston said.
Ralston named three generations of matter.
But when creating new forms of matter, physicists do have an exact idea of what they're looking for.
And each generation has one particle that gives that generation's mass and links all three together. That particle is called the Higgs' particle.
With the energy from the super collider, that one particle may be created. Because there's no collider yet big enough, the Higgs' particle has never been created.
Even to Ralston, the potential awesome.
The competition
"This is absolutely mind boq gling," he said.
Of the 43 super collider proposals received by the federal Department of Energy, 36 were sent on to a review board made up of members of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering.
After reviewing the proposals, the academies are expected to send an unranked listing of the five or six best-qualified sites to the federal Department of Energy. The list will be made public in January.
Final selection is expected by January 1989.
States were required to provide 16,000 acres of land with stable geology and major water and electrical power supplies.
The sites also had to be near a major international airport, a major city and a major research institute, such as KU.
Illinois is a favorite to receive the super collider.
According to many Illinois officials, its imperative that their state
e selected. Illinois is the site of the nation's
largest particle accelerator, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, about 30 miles west of Chicago. At 4 miles in diameter, it is much smaller than the proposed super collider.
But wherever the super collider goes, so go the nation's top physicists, and that worries Illinois officials.
cla-
Nancy Ebbert, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources, knows the danger of having the super collider located elsewhere.
"Fermilab would diminish in importance and, yes, could eventually become obsolete," she said.
So, Illinois is taking hokey. It has spent about $ million on its property. The Legislature has appropriated several million more to acquire land for the super collider.
In its proposal, it included tourist information on Illinois and Chicago.
And it is using the logic of linking the super collider with the Fermilab ring to sway decision-makers.
By using Fermilab as a booster to the super collider, the federal government could save up to $500 million on its construction, said Kristin Dean, executive director of SSC for Illinois.
"Not to speak of the fact that you've got the community 100 percent behind it," Dean said.
Grass-roots campaigning is one way Illinois has gotten that public support.
SSC for Illinois is a joint public and private organization. "Sort of a clearing-house for information," Dean said.
The group puts out a slick-looking seasonal newsletter as part of its campaign.
campaign. The Illinois proposal has weak points, Ebbert said, because of high utility rates in Illinois and the need to dig a deeper tunnel to find stable ground than in most states.
But the greatest drawback for Illinois, Ebbert said, is its lack of a reputation, despite Fermilib, for doing high-energy research.
"That really seems to be an important factor." Ebbert said
But it stands to reason, Dean said, that "If you put this in the deserts of Texas, it's not nearly as much of an attraction."
Texas is proposing two sites, one near Dallas and the other 30 miles south of Amarillo.
"The Dallas site is certainly closer than any of the other sites to an international airport," said James Naples, information officer for the Texas National Research Laboratory Commission.
Unknown to most people, Denver is thinking about building a new international airport to replace Stapleson International Airport. The new airport would be east of Denver, halfway between that city and Colorado's proposed site, said Cindy Parmenter, press secretary to Colorado Gov. Roy Romer.
But maybe not for long.
Actually, the site is 60 miles east of Denver, on the flat Colorado plains.
"Colorado's a lovely place," Parmenter said. "Our site is close to lovely mountains."
But Colorado, which has spent about $2.7 million to lure the project to its state, has more than one way to play.
From the KU Weather Service
Parmenter said that Joseph Coors, vice-chairman of the Adolph Coors Co., is co-chairman of the committee to attract the super collider to Colorado.
It's no coincidence, Parmenter acknowledged, that Joseph Coors is a friend of President Reagan.
"The final decision will probably be a political one," Parmenter said.
Colorado also is in a pact with other Rocky Mountain states, including Wyoming, and each of which has pledged to strongly support whichever is a finalist.
The Colorado Legislature also has proposed an extra $3 million for land acquisition for the super collider.
California is considered a strong second to Illinois, partly because its two proposed sites are near the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University.
Clair Burgener, chairman of the California Republican party, also knows the game of politics well.
Several members of the super collider selection committee are from California, as is President Reagan.
"The people we have in our positions certainly don't hurt us," Burgener said.
What, exactly, would the super collider mean to Kansas?
Kansas and the collider
"It would be the biggest opportunity the state has ever had." Ralston said. "It would make Kansas the central focus of high-energy physics."
About 500 research physicists from around the world would use the super collider at any one time, most of them staying on the research campus.
"High-energy experimental physicists travel half their lives," Raiston said. "There is no reason they shouldn't come out to Kansas."
Also possible, Ralston said, is a Silicon Valley on the plains because of the need for high-tech products at the super collider.
"A Silicon Valley that Kansas has been trying so hard to attract," Ralston said, describing what the super collider would bring to Kansas. "You're not planting a seed but a whole garden."
The state's universities would buzz with the excitement of world physicists using the universities' educational resources, Ralston said.
It also would upgrade the average educational and income levels of the state.
But when it comes to Kansas and its competition for the super collider, a familiar sore point for the Sunflower State comes into play — money.
Kansas' proposals are just as visually attractive as many states'. The eight wirebound volumes are purple with copper-colored trim and a paint-
The state spent only $300,000 on its proposal.
WEATHER Lawrence Forecast
On Campus
- SUA Arts and Crafts Bazaar is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the Kansas Union.
■ "Machiavelli's Reading of Livy." a lecture by John Phillips, professor of classics, is scheduled at 4 p.m. today at 100 Smith Hall.
College Assembly is scheduled at 4 p.m. today in Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union.
administration majors is scheduled at 6:15 p.m. today at 112 Blake Hall. KU Hispanic-American Leadership Organization meeting is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. today in the International Room at the Kansas Union
- "A Cognitive-Semantic Approach to the Comparison of English In, On, At and Their Spanish Equivalents," a linguistics colloquy by Adrian Lona
dono, Lawrence graduate student, is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. today at 207 Blake Hall
Bakee Joan Finney, Kansas State Treasurer, is scheduled to speak at the West Gallery of the Kansas Union at 7:00 p.m. today. Finney will speak on getting involved in an '88 election campaign." The speech is sponsored by KU Young Democrats.
A Sigma Psi meeting for personnel
ing in the middle titled "Explosion of Creation" by Johnson County artist Philomene Bennett.
A proposal can't be judged by dollar signs, according to Terry Smith. SSC project manager for the Kansas Department of Commerce.
"We consulted several professional consulting firms before preparing the proposal, and we got estimates in the neighborhood of $2 million," Smith said.
Simu state.
The state actually spent at least $1 million on its proposal, Smith said, but the cost is hidden in the time given by state and private workers that was not specially allocated for the three-year process of selecting a site and preparing a proposal.
About 68 people helped to prepare the proposal, including the Biological and Geological surveys at KU1 said Frank Wilson, senior scientist at the Geological Survey. Wilson was one of the main designers of Kansas' proposal.
Now that it has been submitted, Kansas's proposal meets or exceeds Department of Energy requirements in all areas, Smith said.
"Are we technically perfect?
We're technically pretty damn close." Smith said.
Kansas' proposed site lies about 20 miles south of Topeka, and the ring would encompass the Pomona reservoir. A nearby international airport was one of the energy department's criteria, and Kansas meets that with Kansas City International Airport and Forbes Field in Topeka.
Kansas also is touting KU and KState as nearby universities, another energy department requirement.
energy as part of the Kansas does not have a knockout punch for the considering committee, though.
Texas does, with its promise to use $1 billion in state money to build the super collider, almost a quarter of its cost.
cost.
"That constitutes a knockout punch, although the committee is not supposed to consider that," Smith said. "Everyone knows it's out there, though."
Kansas' proposal, Smith said, should push the state past the first round, to the list of the final five or six sites.
SIX SITES.
"I feel very comfortable that the first round of evaluations will be technical," Smith said.
The final decision will be broken down into two areas, the first again strictly technical. The second one, though, will be political, and it is there that Kansas might have to say goodbye to the super collider
Rep. Dan Glickman, D-Kan., is not, he says, a blind cheerleader for the project.
"I think it has become kind of the ultimate science pork-barrel," said Glickman, who is on the House committee of science, space and technology.
That committee recently approved, with some controversy, a bill authorizing initial money for the super collider. The bill has been sent to the House of Representatives.
Rep. Jim Slattery, D-Kan., agrees with Glickman.
Because of the nation's budget deficit, financing for the super collider could become a hotly debated issue in Congress, Slattery said.
"There is even some concern that it will be out of date by the time it is constructed." Slattery said.
There also is concern that once a winning state is named, other states will withdraw their support. Because
of its staggering cost, a scaled-down project might be more reasonable. Glickman said.
"This will crowd out some very important science projects," Glickman said. He said research on a NASA space station would be harmed the most.
But Smith, of the state department of commerce, thinks that if the super collider does pass Congress, it would be only fair that an economically depressed state such as Kansas should receive such an economic boon.
And that is the feeling some state officials are trying to convey, including Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, who wrote a letter in support of Kansas' bid to John Herrington, U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
"We can and will argue that good public policy goals can be achieved if they make this investment in an area of the country that desperately needs it economically." Smith said. "The Heartland Midwest is on a $30 billion-a-year farm support program. The feds will never give up that farm support program unless they can help the Midwest subsidize itself with something else."
with a diversified economy.
Kansas has no big handicap
except, perhaps, its image problem.
Thet, is a problem Terry Smith
something more Illinois officials, by contrast, admit that the super collider would not have much of an economic impact so close to Chicago, a city with a diversified economy.
That is a problem Terry Smith describes with a sigh.
"I don't think Kansas has as bad an image outside of Kansas as inside of Kansas. What startles me frequently about Kansas is the amount of criticism it gets from Kansas," he said.
Come in and play.
We'd like to show you how to have a good time. Real simple. First, come over to our place. While you're here, slide into the seat of America's most lovable 4x4.
sear for American made factory standard. With a peppy 1.3 liter机架, an aftiff speed stick and 4.1v versatility, the Samura is our answer to eco-box boredom.
No so test drive a Samurai today. Then go out and play.
Olathe Ford-Suzuki
1-35 & 150 Hwy. Kansas City
(913) 782-0881
30 minutes from Lawrence!
©1987 Suzuki of America Automotive Corporation
Sunflower House
Student Co-op
Private Rooms
Low rates
Great Location
1406 Tennessee
749-0871
BOttLENECK
Tuesday
WOW! Texas Wildman
Joe King Carrasco
w/special guests
Homestead Grays
$1 off with KUID
A Real Party!
Thursday
50¢ Draws
Friday, Dec. 4
Upfront
Lawrence's own party
dance band
Saturday, Dec. 5
Ron Thompson &
The Resilience
San Francisco's best
Blues rocker. Winner of
Bay area music awards!
DON'T MISS IT!
INCREDIBLE Somebody must have Blown it!
Alpine 7256 FM/AM Cassette Deck includes:
T-10 II Tuner* , 16Wx2 High Power, Seek (up/down),
Selectable Fader, Dolby* B Noise Reduction,
Bird's-eyed Music Sensor* GT Cassette Mechanism,
Dust-Monster* Cassette Door & 18 Station Presses.
ALPINE
C. SAMER HENN MURPHY
T. LEWIS JOHN TOMLINSON
F. RAY KATZ CLEON
CITY OF CHEVROLET
Can you believe all the above features in an ALPINE for only
$299.00
SOUNDS GREAT
CAR STEREO
ZUMA & JIMA
AMBROCHEN
842-312-0600
14001 SAN FRANCISCO
RINE * NAKAMICHU * DENON * YAMAHA * BOSTON ACOUSTICS