Final LHC Synchronization Test a Success

Geneva, 25 August 2008. CERN has today announced the success of the second and final test of the Large Hadron Collider’s beam synchronization systems which will allow the LHC operations team to inject the first beam into the LHC. Friday evening 22 August, a single bunch of a few particles travelled down the transfer line from the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator to the LHC. After a period of optimization, one bunch was kicked up from the transfer line into the LHC beam pipe and steered counter-clockwise about 3 kilometres around the LHC. “Thanks to a fantastic team, both the clock-wise and counter-clockwise tests went without a hitch. We look forward to a resounding success when we make our first attempt to send a beam all the way around the LHC,” said Lyn Evans, LHC Project Leader. Both the counter-clockwise and clockwise tests are part of the preparations to ready the LHC, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, for the eventual acceleration and collision of two beams at an energy of 5 TeV per beam. This unprecedented event is foreseen to take place by end 2008

mini-b-roll : LHC Accelerator

How the LHC works The LHC, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, is the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex. It mainly consists of a 27 km ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way. Inside the accelerator, two beams of particles travel at close to the speed of light with very high energies before colliding with one another. The beams travel in opposite directions in separate beam pipes – two tubes kept at ultrahigh vacuum. They are guided around the accelerator ring by a strong magnetic field, achieved using superconducting electromagnets. These are built from coils of special electric cable that operates in a superconducting state, efficiently conducting electricity without resistance or loss of energy. This requires chilling the magnets to about ‑271°C – a temperature colder than outer space! For this reason, much of the accelerator is connected to a distribution system of liquid helium, which cools the magnets, as well as to other supply services. Thousands of magnets of different varieties and sizes are used to direct the beams around the accelerator. These include 1232 dipole magnets of 15 m length which are used to bend the beams, and 392 quadrupole magnets, each 5–7 m long, to focus the beams. Just prior to collision, another type of magnet is used to 'squeeze' the particles closer together to increase the chances of collisions. The particles are so tiny that the task of making them collide is akin to firing needles from two positions 10 km apart with such precision that they meet halfway! All the controls for the accelerator, its services and technical infrastructure are housed under one roof at the CERN Control Centre. From here, the beams inside the LHC will be made to collide at four locations around the accelerator ring, corresponding to the positions of the particle detectors

Video News Release : CERN announces start-up date for LHC

Geneva, 7 August 2008. CERN has today announced that the first attempt to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be made on 10 September

CERN General HD Stockshots

Footage of LHC accelerator, ATLAS , CMS, ALICE and LHCb, computing center , CERN Contro Room, which has been filmed in DVCRPO H

mini-b-roll : CERN

A global endeavour CERN is run by 20 European Member States, but many non-European countries are also involved in different ways. Scientists come from around the world to use CERN’s facilities. The current Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Member States have special duties and privileges. They make a contribution to the capital and operating costs of CERN’s programmes, and are represented in the Council, responsible for all important decisions about the Organization and its activities. Some states (or international organizations) for which membership is either not possible or not yet feasible are Observers. ‘Observer’ status allows non-Member States to attend Council meetings and to receive Council documents, without taking part in the decision-making procedures of the Organization. Scientists from some 580 institutes and universities around the world use CERN’s facilities. Physicists and their funding agencies from both Member and non-Member States are responsible for the financing, construction and operation of the experiments on which they collaborate. CERN spends much of its budget on building new machines (such as the Large Hadron Collider), and it only partially contributes to the cost of the experiments. Observer States and Organizations currently involved in CERN programmes are: the European Commission, India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, Turkey, UNESCO and the USA. Non-Member States currently involved in CERN programmes are: Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam. Half the world’s particle physicists CERN employs just around 2500 people. The Laboratory’s scientific and technical staff designs and builds the particle accelerators and ensures their smooth operation. They also help prepare, run, analyse and interpret the data from complex scientific experiments. Some 8000 visiting scientists, half of the world’s particle physicists, come to CERN for their research. They represent 580 universities and 85 nationalities

Inauguration de la caverne de CMS qui abritera le détecteur en 2007

On 1st February 2005, many distinguished guests, including the Spanish and Italian Ambassadors to the United Nations, representatives of engineering and civil engineering companies and the CERN management, came together at a site 100 metres below ground in Cess