CERN announces new start-up schedule for Large Hadron Collider

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has announced that the worlds largest super-conducting installation Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will start up in May 2008, taking the first steps towards studying physics at a new high-energy frontier.

Washington, June 24 : The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has announced that the world's largest super-conducting installation Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will start up in May 2008, taking the first steps towards studying physics at a new high-energy frontier.

Speaking at the 142nd session of the CERN Council on Friday, the Organization's Director General Robert Aymar said that a low-energy run, originally scheduled for this year, had been dropped as the result of a number of minor delays accumulated over the final months of LHC installation and commissioning. He also blamed the failure in March of a pressure test in one of the machine's components for it.

"The low-energy run at the end of this year was extremely tight due to a number of small delays, but the inner triplet problem now makes it impossible," said LHC Project Leader Lyn Evans.

"We'll be starting up for physics in May 2008, as always foreseen, and will commission the machine to full energy in one go," Evans added.

The new schedule foresees successively cooling and powering each of the LHC's sectors in turn this year. Throughout the winter, hardware commissioning will continue, allowing the LHC to be ready for high-energy running by the time CERN's accelerators are switched on in the spring.

Project leaders say given that commissioning a new particle accelerator is a complex task, beams will be injected at low energy and low intensity to give the operations team experience in driving the new machine. The Intensity and energy will then slowly be increased, they say.

"There's no big red button when you're starting up a new accelerator, but we aim to be seeing high energy collisions by the summer," said Evans.

Officials also say that the installation of the large and equally innovative apparatus for experiments at the new and unique facility, existing in a circumference of 27 kilometres, will continue at the same time. They say that this huge effort will be completed on a schedule consistent with that of the accelerator.

The CERN Council has also agreed to increase the organisation's funding over the years 2008-2011 as an important first step towards implementing the decisions taken by it in July 2006 for a European strategy for particle physics.

"This is an important vote for the future of particle physics in Europe. It allows us to consolidate the laboratory's infrastructure, prepare for future upgrades of the LHC and to re-launch a programme of R and D for the long-term future," said CERN Director General Robert Aymar.

ANI