LHC News Update

Well Fuk, over to you.

Right Brian. Over on Earth, 'Red Button Day' is fast approaching. That's when they push the big red button at the Large Hadron Collider.

It's finally a go, right Fuk?

We make it a preliminary feed. We're getting some Russian satellite interference. We're filtering now. Gillies at CERN is on top of it.

Wasn't he on top of it for June? Fuk?

That was full cooldown, Brian.

So we got full cooldown, Fuk?

No Fuking way. They're almost there.

Fuking glitch factory, Fuk? Weren't they gonna hit that Fuking button 3 years ago?

That's affirmative, Brian. But when they do, they're gonna hit a Fuking Home Run.

Hope you're right, Fuk.


The real down to earth story is the Russians have scooped CERN on start-up of the LHC. RIA Novosti World says the collider "will be officially unveiled October 21". The source is a Russian scientist, Alexander Vodopyanov of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna). CERN has been awash with start-up rumors lately, including one in The New York Times, and hasn't commented.

James Gillies, CERN's PR Director, reported in CosmicLog MSNBC, did announce that the timing of the first beam injection will be sometime during the first 2 weeks of September. "The machine is basically cold now." See for yourself. Click on LHC Cooldown Status Live, on this page, from a column of KEY CERN SITES on your right, only 5 of 8 sectors are cold enough, at 1.9 K . But this first injection is for only one beam into one sector of 8, basically a test of one of the Injection Kicker magnets that kicks a proton beam into the main ring from the PS and SPS pre-accelerators. This will be the clockwise beam, the counterclockwise beam test should be a month later. The beam energy isn't specified, but it will probably be 0.45 TeV, which is what the pre-accelerators deliver to the main 17 mile ring, where beams will be further accelerated to 5 TeV, maybe in October as Vodopyanov says, just before the official inaugeration.

CosmicLog also has some useful updates on a rival Fermilab search for the Higgs Boson, some ZZs turning up, yawn. And the Wagner/Sancho suit, to be heard in court on September 2nd. It could be dismissed then or an injunction could be granted to delay LHC start-up. Or proceedings could drag on. Probably the Hawaiian Court will say they don't have jurisdiction.

And all the fuss on the latest LHC Rap Video, not enough juice to power a hearing aid, at 0.0000000000003 GeV. The Cernettes Channel on Youtube can't be beat.

Lately too, you might want to see a dazzling gallery of 28 hi-res images of the LHC by CERN photographers on The Boston Globe on-line edition's Big Picture.

STOP PRESS August 7, 2008

It's official. CERN announced the first attempt to circulate a beam of protons through the LHC ring will be September 10, 2008. The beam energy is what the pre-accelerators can deliver, that is 0.45 TeV. The target is still 5 TeV per beam later this year, with collisions possible before the planned Winter shutdown.

The big event will be on Eurovision, but elsewhere you'll need a paid on-line account with them. There's a big media circus being carefully planned for hundreds of journalists descending from the skies or driving in. The good news is the rest of us will be able to watch it live on up to 4 CERN Webcast Channels for free. Thanks to all at CERN. Don't forget to stock up on your Collider Donuts and don't miss this. If you're worried, it's still too early to be really worried, only a low energy single beam run. Still the LHC has never been tested like this. Expect some sparks and quarks.

The initial test of an Injection Kicker magnet into one sector is way ahead of schedule, set for this weekend. This must be an LHC first. Ahead of schedules and rumors? Amazing!

Make a date to watch the Collider Show here, Wednesday September 10, 2008. It's five hours later in France if you're in New York. There's a CERN LHC LIVE WEBCAMS spot on your right. Click on CERN Live Webcasts. Next one is August 18, 08:00 or 3 AM in NY, lectures on String theory, "Strings 2008".