A workshop was held in Chamonix, France on February 6 where recommendations were made to CERN management about how to ensure that the production of physics data starts in late 2009.
The goal is to have the LHC run through the winter and on to autumn 2010 at an energy of 5 teV per beam, which would allow for enough data for the first results.
“These recommendations represent the best way forward for the LHC and for the field of particle physics in general,” said Steve Myers, CERN’s Director for Accelerators and Chair of the Chamonix workshop.
Details about the incident that shut down the LHC in September of last year were also discussed. Steps have been taken to prevent another faulty electrical connection between segments of the LHC’s superconducting cable that caused the first incident. According to CERN, “following the incident, a further two suspect connections have been indentified. One of these has now been investigated, revealing that the splice between cables had not been correctly carried out. As a result, the magnet containing the second will also be removed from the tunnel for repair. Since resistance tests can only be carried out in cold magnets, three of the LHC’s eight sectors remain to be tested: sector 3-4 where the incident occurred and the sectors on either side.”
