With the LHC already a week into the ion run, the CERN Bulletin takes the opportunity to look at the progress made by the experiments during the LHC’s first proton run. In a series of interviews, the spokespersons from the five experiments take stock of the unprecedented success of the proton run.
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Over recent days, we’ve achieved some historic milestones in LHC physics as we’ve made the transition from proton to ion running. These have been widely reported and I’ve communicated the news to you by e-mail. Less visible, but nonetheless vital to the functioning of the Lab, is an agreement that we’ll be signing with our Host States on 15 November. It will be the second tripartite agreement to be signed in as many months, and it is set to streamline our radiation protection and radiation safety.
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The last 2010 proton beam was extracted from the LHC on Thursday, 4 November. The transition from proton to lead ion operation was accomplished remarkably smoothly. The first ion collisions were recorded just after midnight on 6 November.
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“One year ago it would have been impossible for us to guess that the machine and the experiments could achieve so much so quickly”, says Fabiola Gianotti, ATLAS spokesperson. The whole chain – from collision to data analysis – has worked remarkably well in ATLAS.
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After having retraced the entire Standard Model up to the Top, the CMS collaboration is ready to go further and continue the success of what Guido Tonelli – its spokesperson – defines as a ‘magic year’. Things evolve fast at CMS, but scientists have taken up the challenge and are ready for the future.
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The ALICE wonderland is the ion-ion collisions. However, the proton run was intensely used by the collaboration to get to know its detector in detail and to produce its first results in QCD-related matters. This very successful preparatory phase will now allow ALICE to enter the uncharted territory of the quark-gluon plasma at the extreme energies provided by the LHC.
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The first proton run has confirmed that LHCb has powerful capabilities in the field of flavour physics and that many possible signatures of non-Standard Model effects are within the experiment's reach. Furthermore, this run has confirmed that LHCb is able to make important contributions beyond the flavour sector. The collaboration is working on a Letter of Intent for an upgrade, which will take advantage of the open geometry of the experiment, and will aim at improved sensitivity both in the flavour sector and in a wider physics programme.
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TOTEM is the LHC experiment dedicated to the measurement of the proton total cross-section. This first proton run produced a wealth of data that is allowing the collaboration to probe the proton as never before.
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On 15 November CERN and its Host States will sign a tripartite agreement that replaces the existing bilateral agreements in matters of radiation protection and radiation safety at CERN. It will provide, for the first time, a single forum where the three parties will discuss how maximum overall safety can best be achieved in the specific CERN context.
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Since last week the first of a total of 23 accelerating structures for Linac4 has been undergoing high-power tests. Although still a prototype, this structure is destined to be the first of the 12 PIMS cavities to be installed in the Linac4 tunnel and it has been completely designed, developed and constructed at CERN.
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Before, you had to go on the TPG website to find a tram-route, use Google Maps to see an aerial photo of CERN, and look for CERN buildings on map.web.cern.ch. Now, that's ancient history, with a new Geographical Information System (GIS) Portal set up by the Design Office and Patrimony Service (GS/SEM/DOP). It's a one-stop-shop for all this information and much more.
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The Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) Group is calling on CERN Departments to take their technology out of the confines of the laboratory and make it ready for dissemination. For the first time, projects can apply for financial support from the newly established KTT Fund.
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The 8th e-Infrastructure Concertation Meeting was held in the Globe from 4 to 5 November to discuss the development of Europe’s distributed computing and storage resources.
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During the Nobel prize-winning UA1 experiment, scientists in the control room used to ring a bell if a particularly interesting event had occurred. Today, the “CMS Exotica hotline” routine produces a daily report that lists the exotic events that were recorded the day before.
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After the 2010 European Researchers' Night, a contest was organised for its participants, asking them to write about their experience. We are now pleased to announce the winner: Yves-Marie Ducimetière, a 14-year-old student at the Lycée International de Ferney-Voltaire.
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One of the first things we think about when someone mentions physics is the machines. But behind the machines, there are the men and women who design, build and operate them. In an exhibition at the Thinktank planetarium’s art gallery in Birmingham (UK), Claudia Marcelloni and her husband Neal Hartman—she is a photographer and Outreach Officer for ATLAS, while he is an engineer working on the ATLAS pixel detector—explore the human side of scientists.
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In this series, the Bulletin aims to explain the role of the Ombuds at CERN by presenting practical examples of misunderstandings that could have been resolved by the Ombuds if he had been contacted earlier. Please note that, in all the situations we present, the names are fictitious and used only to improve clarity.
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Frank Blythe, one of the very first engineers engaged in the CERN adventure, passed away on October 22.
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We deeply regret to announce the death of Mr Denis GUDET on 04.11.2010. Mr Denis GUDET, born on 14.03.
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