ok...what you said...but where did the mass/energy needed to produce more photons come from? To my knowledge, photons are emitted as a result of molecular energy states created by electromagnetic waves in a medium. I don’t get it!
Any moving charge generates photons. They never specified where the photons came from, but the article talks about two protons colliding. I am sure that will produce abundant photons. The mass/energy is imparted to protons (protons are hadrons, the things that the LHC accelerates) by a radio frequency (RF) field inside the circular raceway. Basically the RF field is modulated so that the protons are always accelerated forward. As they move around the circle the field inside stays ahead of them. Giant magnets bend their trajectory to keep them from flying off in a straight line. It is my understanding that a single proton can achieve the same momentum as a major league fastball. When two of those collide, watch the sparks (and W bosons) fly!
Two counter rotating proton beams are generated. There is a short drift region where the passing beams coast past each other. The probability of any particular pair colliding is infinitesimal, but with enough protons, the probability of at least one pair colliding is a near certainty.