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https://theconversation.com/the-large-hadron-collider-is-being-upgraded-so-that-it-can-unlock-the-secrets-of-the-higgs-boson-287535>
"Deep beneath the French-Swiss border, the world’s largest scientific
instrument has fallen silent. After years of smashing proton particles together
at nearly the speed of light, Cern’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has stopped
operations and entered a long shutdown.
While no particle collisions are taking place at the LHC, thousands of
scientists, engineers and technicians are dismantling parts of the machine,
installing new technologies and preparing one of the most ambitious upgrades
ever attempted in experimental physics.
When it switches on again, around 2030, it will become the High-Luminosity
Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), capable of delivering roughly seven times more
data than the collider that discovered the Higgs boson.
For me, this shutdown marks another milestone in a project that has shaped much
of my scientific life. I first became involved in the High-Luminosity collider
long before the Higgs boson particle was discovered in 2012. Over nearly two
decades I have had the privilege of contributing to the programme on both sides
of the Atlantic.
In the United States, I served as upgrade coordinator for the Compact Muon
Solenoid (CMS), a key experiment at the LHC. The CMS is built at one of the
points within the Large Hadron Collider where separate beams of proton
particles collide. CMS then captures data from these collisions so that it can
be analysed by Cern physicists. I helped lead the international effort
preparing CMS for the HL-collider era.
Today, in Oxford, I work on another LHC experiment called Atlas. Atlas and CMS
work in broadly similar ways, but having two machines like this helps ensure
significant discoveries by one experiment are cross-checked by a counterpart
with a separate team of scientists. Here, my colleagues and I are building
silicon pixel detector modules for its upgraded inner tracker. This will form a
vital part of the HL-LHC upgrade."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
