World's Largest Particle Accelerator Undergoes Major Upgrade
Translated & summarized from Bizportal by baba
CERN is dismantling 28 superconducting magnets in its Large Hadron Collider for a major upgrade, aiming to increase particle collision rates by 40% with new, stronger magnets. The project, expected to conclude around the early 2030s, will enhance the collider's data collection capabilities and allow for deeper investigations into fundamental physics.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- CERN is upgrading the Large Hadron Collider by replacing 28 superconducting magnets.
- New magnets will be 40% stronger, increasing particle collision rates.
- The upgrade aims to increase data collection tenfold.
- Israel is a full member of CERN and participates in experiments.
- The upgraded collider is expected to restart in the early 2030s.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has begun its most significant overhaul since its inception, dismantling 28 superconducting magnets from its Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This extensive maintenance, taking place deep beneath the Swiss-French border, is preparing the 27-kilometer ring for a new generation of experiments. The upgrade aims to significantly increase the collider's 'luminosity,' meaning the rate of particle collisions, by using new magnets made of niobium-tin, which will generate magnetic fields 40% stronger than the current niobium-titanium ones.
These enhanced magnets will be installed around the ATLAS and CMS experiment sites, crucial for concentrating particle beams to near light speed just before they collide. The goal of the HiLumi project is to increase the amount of data collected by the LHC by tenfold over its operational lifespan. The first new magnet is expected to arrive at the tunnel by early 2029, with a total of 16 cryostats and 28 cryogenic assemblies to be installed.
The LHC, which began operations in 2008, has a history marked by both triumphs and setbacks. A magnet malfunction shortly after its launch caused a year-long shutdown. However, it achieved a landmark success in 2012 with the discovery of the Higgs boson, a finding that led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for Peter Higgs and François Englert. Israel became a full member of CERN in 2014, with researchers from the Weizmann Institute, Technion, and Tel Aviv University contributing to the ATLAS experiment.
The upgraded LHC is scheduled to resume operations around the start of the next decade. Meanwhile, CERN is exploring the feasibility of a future circular collider approximately 90 kilometers in circumference, a multi-billion dollar project awaiting a final decision. "These magnets are making way for a new, even more powerful generation after almost twenty years of operation," stated Markus Zerlauth, HiLumi project manager. Physicists anticipate this upgrade will enable further exploration into fundamental questions about dark matter, the matter-antimatter imbalance in the universe, and the potential existence of undiscovered particles.