What is the purpose of a particle accelerator??
Purpose : To create regions of high energy density. The famous equation energy=mass times the speed of light squared works in both directions so you can say that mass = energy divided by the speed of light squared. To put this another way if you get enough energy together you get mass. Note that this equation says nothing about what kind of mass – it creates any and every kind of mass from pure energy. The good point is that there are loads of interesting kinds of mass that just do not show up in day to day stuff and accelerators can are the only known way of creating this exotic matter. The higher the energy of the accelerator the higher the mass limit of what can be created so physicists are always trying to increase the energy to discover the more massive particles. What can it prove : what kinds of matter exist and what are the rules that govern it.
