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LHC (Large Hadron Collider) "... remains one of the largest and most complex experimental facilities ever built". May be it is even the most complex project in humankind's history(?).

Such projects usually have impact beyond their original target and boost science and technology in a non-trivial way.

So I wonder what kind of impact it has/(might have) on mathematics (if any), and what specific impact had mathematics (or might have) on the LHC project (if any)?

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    $\begingroup$ I really think this is off topic. $\endgroup$
    – Igor Rivin
    Commented Nov 24, 2012 at 19:10
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    $\begingroup$ Dear Igor, why off topic? Probably there are interesting connections between the LHC science and technology to a few mathematical issues and this can be quite interesting. I will edit the question so it will talk about connections on both direction, and leave the "community" out of it. $\endgroup$
    – Gil Kalai
    Commented Nov 24, 2012 at 19:17
  • $\begingroup$ @Igor, well, it is not strictly on topic, however I would think that understanding the bridges between "real life" and math is important issue... And LHC might be good focus point for this. $\endgroup$
    – Alexander Chervov
    Commented Nov 24, 2012 at 19:18
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    $\begingroup$ I am not sure that LHC is "real life" any more than mathematics itself. in anycase, specific connections between science and other major endeavors in nearbye science/technology are interesting, and in my opinion, while not central to the MO mandate, still on topic. $\endgroup$
    – Gil Kalai
    Commented Nov 24, 2012 at 19:22
  • $\begingroup$ Cross-posted: physics.stackexchange.com/questions/46236/… $\endgroup$
    – Alexander Chervov
    Commented Dec 7, 2012 at 19:42

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I am not an expert on the following aspect of LHC, so I'll bring it up but hope others will elaborate (feel free to use the community wiki features!):

One of the major contributions of LHC has been to develop better data-management technology. LHC generates way too much data to store, let alone to transmit, and so quite a lot of statistics, mathematics, and computer research went into designing hardware that makes instantaneous decisions about what data to save. Once the robot has culled the data, transmitting it to humans for further processing is quite a task, and it's reasonable to think that the hardware developed to do so will provide one of the models for a next-generation internet.

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  • $\begingroup$ I have heard that GRID technologies are boosted by LHC, but I am not sure that it is true... Thanks any way for the answer ! $\endgroup$
    – Alexander Chervov
    Commented Nov 24, 2012 at 19:43

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