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Remember the good old days of the Technical Network (TN), when CERN (accelerator) control systems were easily accessible from the Campus network? Unfortunately, those control systems were (and still are today!) using devices of the “Internet of Damn Insecure Stupid Things”. External protections became necessary in 2005: enter TN v2.0. While this new protection brought us until today, the worlds of IT and control systems have changed drastically thanks to virtualisation, containers, big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, large language models, etc. The TN v2.0 is not sufficiently protected anymore. CERN needs to evolve towards Technical Network v3.0. Have a read below.
TN v1.0 The Technical Network of the last millennium was simple. Initially managed by what is now the Accelerators and Technology sector (ATS), it was fully interconnected with the CERN Campus network (the General Purpose Network, or GPN, at the time) and the CERN data centres. Every single office PC could be interactively used to directly connect to controllers, front-ends, PLCs and any other accelerator device. Easy, convenient and insecure: an initial penetration test in 2005 on the “Teststand of Control System Security in CERN” (TOCSSIC) showed that many control systems were inherently unprotected, not up to date and lacked basic security features to protect their operations. We will discuss this “Internet of Damn Insecure Stupid Things” more in a future Bulletin article. The TN v1.0 could not be kept as it was. The risk of infecting control system devices and servers with viruses circulating among PCs and office systems was too great (the “Blaster” and “Slammer” worms just made their way through CERN infecting Windows PCs en masse). The “Computing and Networking Infrastructure for Controls” initiative (CNIC) was born. And with it TN v2.0.
TN v2.0 Following the CNIC policy initially approved by IT and the ATS in 2007 and its implementation by CERN’s Network team, new capabilities for filtering between the Campus Network and the TN were introduced. Any GPN device that needed to communicate with the TN had to be explicitly declared to be “TN TRUSTED” before it could connect to the TN. And vice versa, any TN devices with communication partners on the GPN had to be marked “TN EXPOSED”. Due to technical limitations, “TRUSTING/EXPOSING” were one-to-all relations. A “TRUSTED” or “EXPOSED” device could connect to anything on the TN and GPN, respectively. While this was suboptimal for security, the whole concept was a huge step forward in protecting the TN. In parallel, any TN device not linked to accelerator control systems or CERN’s infrastructure was moved to a dedicated experiment network (or the GPN). Similar measures were deployed for the then-new LHC experiment networks and, later, for other experiments. This mechanism brought CERN securely through the 2000s, but the 2010s already showed that it did not scale properly and was not adapted to the evolution of conventional IT services like virtualisation, containerisation, big data, artificial intelligence, etc. – IT concepts that are now also of interest and use for control system deployments. In terms of networking and network security, this became a nightmare. Enter: TN v3.0.
TN v3.0 With modern control systems increasingly embracing these new IT concepts, the TN v2.0 “TRUSTED/EXPOSED” mechanism is no longer granular enough. Actually, the 2023 audit on cybersecurity requires CERN to “implement and enforce network filtering between CERN network segments”, namely the TN, the data centre networks and the Campus network. It is also required to “complete the MFA [Multi-factor Authentication] rollout for all required users and use cases” as already discussed in our previous Bulletin article on “5 ways to remotely connect to CERN”. Hence, in the course of Long Shutdown 3 (LS3), the TN–Campus network filtering will evolve from router-based ACL (Access Control Lists, the “TRUSTED/EXPOSED” rules) to firewall filtering with fine-grained granularity between clients and services (i.e. at the level of TCP and UDP protocols and port numbers). For this, every IT service hosted in the Meyrin or Prévessin data centres will identify their user- and client-facing servers and the corresponding network protocols used, and have those explicitly configured in the new TN firewall. Similarly, the ATS controls groups and experts will need to identify their corresponding clients that consume these IT services so that a communication envelope between services and clients can be spun up.
It is planned to introduce these new firewall rule sets during LS3 such that TN v3.0 is fully implemented by the end of LS3 and Run 4 will start with better protected accelerator operations. Also during LS3, the same firewall mechanism will be deployed to improve the separation between IT data centre services and the Campus network itself. Hence, stay tuned for some changes. And a big thank you to all those involved in helping to secure CERN, its accelerators and its operations!
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Do you want to learn more about computer security incidents and issues at CERN? Follow our Monthly Report. For further information, questions or help, check our website or contact us at Computer.Security@cern.ch.
anschaef Thu, 06/19/2025 - 10:43 Byline Computer Security Office Publication Date Thu, 06/19/2025 - 10:40You may feel that quantum physics is far removed from your everyday life. But quantum physics could even shape our future. The Sparks! 2025 event taking place today will take audiences at CERN Science Gateway and online through a futuristic journey to a hypothetical “Quantum City”, exploring how quantum mechanics could one day help build more sustainable and inclusive societies.
Join the event to find out how recent developments in the field could impact urban planning, transport, energy supply, communications and more. This is your chance to experience today what our quantum future could look like.
Watch the livestream on Thursday, 19 June 2025, at 20:00 CEST here.
Consult the full programme here.
Speakers
The CERN Alumni Network (CAN) was launched on 8 June 2017. Since then, it has grown into a global community of almost 11 000 members, offering opportunities to connect and grow, both professionally and personally.
Join us on 24 June as we celebrate eight years of the network with a special CERN Alumni day. With a theme in honour of the International Year of Quantum, this virtual event will feature distinguished CERN and alumni guests.
From the outset, CAN has been built on four key pillars:
These objectives translate into tangible benefits for alumni at all stages of their professional journey. Early-career members gain access to jobs, mentoring, career events and peer connections; mid-career professionals and soon-to-be alumni stay involved through mentoring, taking part in events and regional meetups; while senior professionals and retirees stay connected through News from the Lab updates, invitations to events and speaking opportunities. Current CERN staff can also contribute by supporting career transitions, exchanging knowledge with alumni in industry and celebrating the successes of former colleagues.
In 2025, the network is launching a new initiative to recognise and celebrate active alumni engagement, called “the CAN doers”. As part of this initiative, it is introducing a digital badge system on its network website, inspired by particles from the Standard Model. Alumni will earn badges across three categories of engagement: volunteering, experiential and communication. Badges correspond to specific activities that support the community, such as mentoring, speaking at events, participating in alumni gatherings, sharing stories, promoting opportunities or simply staying active on the platform. These digital badges will be displayed on alumni profiles and featured in posts on the CERN Alumni platform and social media channels. The aim is to encourage more alumni to become active community members.
Whether you’re just starting out or reflecting on decades of experience, there’s a place for you in the CERN Alumni Network—and now, a badge to recognise your contribution.
If you haven’t yet done so, sign up to join the CERN Alumni Network here: https://alumni.cern/signup
Full details of CERN Alumni Day and registration are available here: https://alumni.cern/events/182779
ndinmore Tue, 06/17/2025 - 09:35 Byline CERN Alumni programme Publication Date Wed, 06/18/2025 - 09:28
The LHCb experiment at CERN has donated some of its computing equipment to the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (TSNUK) in Ukraine. The equipment – consisting of servers and disk storage and network equipment – had been part of LHCb’s online computing farm prior to upgrades.
TSNUK will use the equipment for local computing needs and to train students, as well as for local analysis of LHCb physics data. It will enable TSNUK students and researchers to submit and process analysis tasks using LHCb’s distributed computing infrastructure and to contribute to scientific research and publications.
“This equipment will help our team of students and researchers to be more effective in our work for the LHCb collaboration,” says Oleg Bezshyyko, team leader of the LHCb group at TSNUK. “We will be able to perform calculations for the needs of the LHCb collaboration independently and prepare our students for shifts at the LHCb experiment.”
“We appreciate the long-term scientific cooperation of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with CERN’s LHCb experiment,” adds Ganna Tolstanova, Vice-Rector for Research at TSNUK. “High-speed computers combined with the talented brains of the Ukrainian youth in the professional hands of our academic staff will undoubtedly make Ukrainian science competitive, strong and sustainable.”
Since 2012, CERN has routinely donated computing equipment that no longer meets its demanding performance standards but remains suitable for less intensive use. So far, more than 2500 servers and 150 network switches have been donated to countries, territories and international organisations including Algeria, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, Mexico, Morocco, Lebanon, Nepal, Palestine, Pakistan, the Philippines, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa and the SESAME laboratory in Jordan. These donations reflect CERN’s commitment to maximising its positive impact on society and can help support researchers and students in their own countries. If you are a publicly funded research organisation, you can request computing equipment from CERN.
ndinmore Mon, 06/16/2025 - 10:13 Publication Date Thu, 06/19/2025 - 10:09The assembly of the High-Luminosity LHC test stand in CERN's large magnet test hall is entering its final phase, preparing the way for the next-generation LHC. All the components of the test stand are in place and the teams are busy connecting them together.
This 95-metre-long facility is a replica of the new segments that will be installed on either side of the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The High-Luminosity LHC will produce an integrated luminosity ten times greater than that of the LHC, meaning ten times more collisions over the operating period.
More collisions mean denser beams, hence the need for magnets that are capable of generating even higher magnetic fields in order to squeeze the beams more tightly before they meet inside the experiments. The new quadrupole magnets, known as the inner triplets, are made of niobium-tin superconducting coils that allow magnetic fields of up to 11.3 tesla to be generated, as against 8.3 tesla with the LHC's current niobium-titanium inner triplets. This is the first time that such magnets have been used in an accelerator.
The Inner Triplet String test stand, or “IT String”, is equipped with six niobium-tin quadrupole magnets grouped together in four cryostats. The set-up also includes corrector magnets and a dipole magnet that is responsible for bringing the beams together in the same tube so that they collide in the heart of the detectors. All these magnets, which were produced at CERN and institutes from the international collaboration, were tested individually before being installed on the test stand.
Weighing between 10 and 18 tonnes, they have been precisely positioned in delicate manoeuvres involving a whole arsenal of handling equipment. They have been integrated into the infrastructure, which was installed last year and is equipped with a cryogenic cooling line that allows them to operate in a conducting state by keeping them at -271°C (1.9 K); it also features a highly innovative power supply line.
"The aim of the test stand is to check how the circuits behave collectively in real conditions", explains Marta Bajko, head of the IT String project. “It will enable us to adjust the procedures for installing the components and for their future commissioning in the LHC during the third long shutdown."
The teams finalising the interconnections of the magnets at the HL-LHC test stand. (Image: M. Arnold and M. Brice/CERN)Several teams are working together, sometimes in parallel, to connect and check the multiple power supplies, vacuum insulation systems, cryogenic cooling systems and instrumentation. "This is giving them the opportunity to train and gain experience in a controlled environment before we move into the tunnel," continues Marta Bajko.
The electrical connection of the magnets, which are powered by a cold power-supply system carrying a total current of more than 100,000 amperes, is an example of the complexity of the operations. Connecting the magnets requires around 70 interconnections to be made using a specific brazing technique to ensure the continuity of the superconducting electrical circuits. After a series of checks, the tubes are then welded and the leak tightness of the circuits is verified by vacuum experts.
Other innovations are being tested on the test stand, such as the remote alignment system, which allows the positioning of the magnets to be adjusted with a precision of a tenth of a millimetre along the 95-metre length.
The installation and validation work will continue until the autumn. The line will then start to be cooled to -271°C (1.9 K), using superfluid helium, with the aim of starting to power the magnets by the end of the year.
cmenard Wed, 06/11/2025 - 12:15 Byline Corinne Pralavorio Nicolas Heredia Publication Date Tue, 06/10/2025 - 15:48Limiting energy consumption is a major concern in the development of any new machine. In electron-positron colliders—such as the “Higgs factories” currently being conceived to study the enigmatic Higgs boson—fully 50 to 60% of the total energy consumption is used to power the radiofrequency (RF) cavities that accelerate the beams. Ongoing research at CERN promises to make this process much more energy efficient.
In a circular collider like the FCC under study, the energy of the electrons and positrons must be continually replenished by RF cavities, as charged particles radiate away energy in the bends. In a linear collider, the efficiency of the cavities is also crucial as the beam only passes once through each of them, so the particles must acquire all their energy in a single pass. Either way, the accelerating cavities are powered by devices called klystrons – and it is here that important efficiency gains can be achieved.
Klystrons are specialised vacuum tubes that amplify high-frequency radio waves by a factor of up to a million. The resulting electromagnetic waves excite strong electric fields inside finely tuned RF cavities, which accelerate passing particle beams to high energies. Invented in the 1930s to improve aircraft radar systems, klystrons have since been used in satellite communication, in broadcasting and in particle accelerators for medical, industrial and research purposes. However, klystron technology has historically only achieved 60% energy efficiency.
The High-Efficiency Klystron (HEK) project, launched ten years ago by CERN together with the University of Lancaster, has produced significant results. High-efficiency klystrons developed for the High-Luminosity LHC are now outperforming industrial klystrons by 10% in terms of efficiency, and CERN teams are working to achieve an efficiency of over 80%. The improvement of a type of unconventional klystron called a “triston”— an obscure idea plucked from the history of RF engineering by the CERN team — could even allow efficiencies as high as 90% to be reached. This could be a breakthrough technology with applications far beyond accelerators.
Read the full article in the CERN Courier
The High Efficiency Klystrons team at CERN testing a klystron prototype for the High-Luminosity LHC. (Image: N. Eskandari/CERN) cmenard Tue, 06/10/2025 - 12:02 Publication Date Tue, 06/10/2025 - 11:56
The LHCb experiment has taken a leap in precision physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In a new paper submitted to Physical Review Letters, the LHCb collaboration reports the first dedicated measurement of the Z boson mass at the LHC, using data from high-energy collisions between protons recorded in 2016 during the collider’s second run.
The Z boson is a massive, electrically neutral particle that mediates the weak nuclear force – one of nature’s fundamental forces. With a mass of around 91 billion electronvolts (GeV), it ranks among the heaviest known elementary particles. Discovered at CERN over 40 years ago, alongside the W boson, the Z boson played a central role in confirming the Standard Model of particle physics – a breakthrough that led to the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physics. Measuring its mass precisely remains essential for testing the Standard Model and searching for signs of new physics.
The new LHCb measurement is based on a sample of 174 000 Z bosons decaying into pairs of muons, heavier relatives of the electron. The measurement resulted in a mass of 91 184.2 million electronvolts (MeV) with an uncertainty of just 9.5 MeV – or about a hundredth of a per cent.
The result is in line with measurements from the electron–positron LEP collider, the LHC’s predecessor, and the CDF experiment at the former proton–antiproton Tevatron collider in the US. What’s more, it matches the precision of the Standard Model prediction, which has an uncertainty of 8.8 MeV (see figure below).
The LHCb measurement shows that this level of precision can be achieved at the LHC despite the complex environment of proton–proton collisions, in which many particles are produced simultaneously.
The achievement opens the door to more Z boson mass studies at the LHC and the future High-Luminosity LHC, including much-anticipated analyses from the ATLAS and CMS experiments. Importantly, the experimental uncertainties on Z boson mass measurements are largely independent across the LHC experiments, meaning that an average of the measurements will have a reduced uncertainty.
“The High-Luminosity LHC has the potential to challenge the precision of the Z boson mass measurement from LEP – something that seemed inconceivable at the beginning of the LHC programme,” says LHCb spokesperson Vincenzo Vagnoni. “This will pave the way for proposed future colliders, such as the FCC-ee, to achieve an even bigger leap in precision.”
Find out more on the LHCb website.
Comparison of the measured Z boson mass with the Standard Model prediction (green) and with measurements from LEP and the CDF experiment. (Image: LHCb/CERN)abelchio Fri, 06/06/2025 - 11:56 Byline Ana Lopes Publication Date Fri, 06/06/2025 - 11:37
FCC Week 2025, held in Vienna in May, was the first major collaboration meeting for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) project following the release of the FCC Feasibility Study Report in March. The event brought together more than 600 participants from 34 countries, highlighting the momentum building around CERN’s proposed post-LHC research infrastructure.
The FCC is envisioned as a two-stage collider, hosted in a new 90.7-km tunnel in the Geneva basin. In the first phase, a precision electron–positron collider, the FCC-ee, would serve as a Higgs, electroweak and top-quark factory. It would later be succeeded by the FCC-hh, a 100-TeV hadron collider designed to extend the discovery potential far beyond that of the LHC. The comprehensive Feasibility Study Report, signed by more than 1400 authors, was submitted as input to the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics and lays the groundwork for a strategic decision in 2026.
FCC Week 2025 participants in the Hofburg, Vienna. (Image: CERN)Throughout FCC Week, plenary and parallel sessions covered scientific goals, progress in detector R&D, accelerator design and sustainability planning. Discussions reflected the increasing maturity of the FCC design and the growing international collaboration supporting it, which now encompasses 162 institutes across 38 countries. Sessions also addressed the broader societal and industrial implications of the project. The week concluded with the FCC Awards, celebrating the work of early-career researchers. Prizes were awarded for innovations in beam optics, detector studies and simulation techniques, showcasing the next generation’s role in shaping the FCC’s future.
A highlight of the week was the Technology and Industry Day, organised in collaboration with the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. Speakers presented compelling evidence of the FCC’s socio-economic potential. From workforce development to innovation in cryogenics and computing, they underlined the FCC’s potential to drive long-term industrial and educational returns.
Public engagement was also prominent. More than 800 students and visitors took part in activities at Vienna’s Planetarium and Wiener Riesenrad, while more than 350 people attended the public event “The Higgs boson and our life” at the Austrian National Library, in which CERN’s Director-General, the Vice President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the European Climate Pact Ambassador for Austria participated. An outdoor exhibition, “Code of the Universe”, remains on display in Vienna, inviting the public to explore the beauty of physics through art.
Continuing the conversation at CERNFollowing FCC Week in Vienna, two events took place at CERN on 27 May. A CERN community information meeting invited the personnel to discuss the results of the Feasibility Study and explore the next steps. The session drew significant interest, with those present in the Main Auditorium joined by around 1200 people connected via webcast, indicating a high level of engagement within the CERN community. A recording of the event will soon be available here (CERN login required).
Later that evening, the public event “Réunion d’information et d’échanges : Publication de l’étude de faisabilité du Futur collisionneur circulaire FCC” was held at CERN Science Gateway. This French-language event welcomed 170 attendees on site, with about 300 people following the live stream. Audience feedback highlighted strong appreciation for the speakers’ ability to link fundamental research with societal issues, and many praised the accessible and thought-provoking presentations.
These events reflect CERN’s commitment to transparency, community dialogue and public engagement as it prepares for a strategic decision on the FCC.
ndinmore Fri, 06/06/2025 - 10:23 Byline Panagiotis Charitos Publication Date Fri, 06/06/2025 - 10:44On 6 June, the OpenWebSearch.eu consortium released a pilot of a new infrastructure that aims to make European web search fairer, more transparent and commercially unbiased. With strong participation by CERN, the European Open Web Index (OWI) is now open for use by academic, commercial and independent teams under a general research licence, with commercial options in development on a case-by-case basis.
The OpenWebSearch.eu initiative was launched in 2022, with a consortium made up of 14 leading research institutions from across Europe, including CERN. The project aims to build a public web index that offers an alternative to existing indexes held by companies like Google (USA), Microsoft (USA), Baidu (China) and Yandex (Russia). Web indexes provide the back-end data infrastructure behind search engines, and today the companies that manage them determine what content is searchable and how it is ranked. Currently, Europe does not have a search index of its own, making it vulnerable to digital dependence.
The OWI offers a clear alternative based on European values. The project’s cross-disciplinary nature, ensuring continuous dialogue between technical teams and legal, ethical and social experts, ensures that fairness and privacy are built into the OWI from the start. “Over thirty years since the World Wide Web was created at CERN and released to the public, our commitment to openness continues,” says Noor Afshan Fathima, IT research fellow at CERN. “Search is the next logical step in democratising digital access, especially as we enter the AI era.” The OWI facilitates AI capabilities, allowing web search data to be used for training large language models (LLMs), generating embeddings and powering chatbots.
The OpenWebSearch.eu consortium, comprising teams from 14 research institutions, at a meeting in November 2023. (Image: OpenWebSearch.eu consortium)The CERN team has built key parts of the infrastructure that power the OWI’s crawling and indexing capabilities. This means that it tracks which webpages should be scanned. The system handles about 9 million URLs per hour, which equates to roughly 3 terabytes of public web data a day, with the aim of indexing 30–50% of the text-based web by the end of 2025. “We have already hit our target of indexing one petabyte of openly licensed web data, and our public dashboard helps users monitor that progress,” says Noor.
CERN is also contributing to other parts of the project. For example, it is scanning its own public physics content to enhance the OWI, as well as developing an internal index and its own search tools and services. Currently, a prototype of a use case for the OWI is in development: known as “Nooon”, this research-driven search engine is dedicated to people with disabilities who require search engines that surface structured, accessible and representative information while ensuring privacy in both access and contribution.
The release of the OWI, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme, comes at a pivotal time. The European Commission’s Invest AI initiative is set to mobilise 200 billion euros for artificial intelligence, and the OWI offers a powerful foundation of open data for innovation. Furthermore, as Microsoft plans to retire access to the Bing index, the OWI will be able to offer an alternative index for European search engines.
After two and a half years of intensive research and development, anybody can now request access to the OWI by signing up at openwebindex.eu/auth/login. Note that the project provides a web index, and not a search engine or API, and users wishing to build their own search engines or chatbots will need a working knowledge of how to apply web index data.
Read more:
The PAX (antiProtonic Atom X-ray spectroscopy) experiment is the first to use TELMAX, the new antiproton test beamline at CERN’s antimatter factory. It aims to test the theory describing the interactions between light and charged particles, known as quantum electrodynamics (QED), under conditions of intense electric fields. But why these conditions? “Although QED is well understood for light systems such as hydrogen atoms, it hasn’t yet been explored in detail for highly charged atoms in the presence of strong electric fields," explains the experiment’s spokesperson, Nancy Paul. “This is due to experimental challenges and uncertainties linked to unknown nuclear properties. In fact, the effects of QED are magnified by intense electric fields, and this gives us a better chance of measuring them.”
Adiabatic Demagnetisation Refrigerator (ADR) cryostat for the PAX prototype TES detector, open on the bottom, where one can see the 80 mK cold plate connected to the readout electronics. Insert: The PAX prototype TES detector (2 x 2 x 4 cm), consisting of 64 pixels and integrated microwave multiplexed readout electronics. For the experiment, this detector is mounted on the end of the cold-finger in the ADR cryostat. (Image: PAX/NIST Quantum Sensors Division).The PAX experiment is being conducted by a team from France’s Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and is funded by the European Research Council (ERC). It is employing a novel approach, namely very high-precision spectroscopy of the X-rays emitted by antiprotonic atoms, i.e. atoms that contain an antiproton orbiting around the nucleus. By studying the transitions between the various states of these atoms, the team will obtain more accurate results than through other approaches. Two novel technologies are being harnessed in tandem to achieve this: the low-intensity antiproton beams delivered by TELMAX and a quantum-sensing X-ray detector.
To create antiprotonic atoms – atoms in which an electron is replaced by an antiproton – TELMAX's antiproton beam is directed at a solid target (made of zirconium, silicon or gold) or a gas target (neon, argon, krypton or xenon), depending on the case. “These antiprotonic atoms generate Coulomb fields that are much more powerful than those generated by 'conventional' atoms; this is what magnifies the effects of QED,” Nancy Paul explains. By studying QED under these special conditions, the collaboration hopes to detect minuscule deviations from the predictions, which could point to unknown phenomena. “The Standard Model of particle physics is incomplete, and precision measurements in quantum systems are crucial to deepening our knowledge of QED and possibly discovering new physics”, notes Nancy Paul.
The brand new quantum-sensing X-ray detector used by PAX also improves sensitivity beyond what was previously available with traditional approaches. “For our experiment, we are using a new microcalorimeter X-ray detector based on Transition Edge Sensors (TES). This kind of detector offers energy precision that is 50 to 100 times better than semi-conductor detectors – with attainable accuracies of 1 eV on 100 keV X-rays”, she adds. The detector was built by a team from the Quantum Sensors Division of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The same types of detectors are used in areas such as X-ray astronomy on satellites, in the ATHENA project, for example. PAX is the first application of this novel technology for antimatter.
anschaef Thu, 06/05/2025 - 13:44 Byline Anaïs Schaeffer Publication Date Fri, 06/06/2025 - 08:34CERN’s antimatter factory produces low-energy (i.e. 'slow') antiprotons in order to “manufacture” and study antimatter. To achieve this, two decelerators, the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) coupled to the ELENA (Extra Low ENergy Antiproton) deceleration ring, supply seven permanent experiments (AEgIS, ALPHA, ASACUSA, BASE, BASE-STEP, GBAR and PUMA) via the same number of beam transfer lines.
This unique facility is now open to new users. In 2024, the antimatter factory team commissioned TELMAX (TEst Line for Machine and Antimatter eXperiments), the world's first antiproton beam line that is “open for booking”. This new antiproton beamline operates according to the same principle as other test-beam facilities at CERN, i.e. it is open to scientists from all over the world wanting to use an antiproton beam for their experiments for a couple of weeks or months.
“A beamline from ELENA became available in 2018 after the ATRAP experiment was shut down, so it seemed only right to create a test beam and offer more collaborations and experiments the chance to work with antimatter – such opportunities are pretty rare!” enthuses François Butin, technical coordinator of the antimatter factory.
On 5 May, antiprotons were delivered to the first experiment at TELMAX, the antiProtonic Atom X-ray spectroscopy experiment (PAX), which is being conducted by a team from France’s Centre national de la recherche scientifique. PAX was launched in September 2024 and aims to study the quantum structure of exotic antiprotonic atoms (in which an antiproton replaces an electron) so as to test quantum electrodynamics (QED) – the theory that describes the interactions between light and charged particles – in intense electric fields.
For the experiment to work, however, the physicists responsible for beam distribution at the antimatter factory had to adapt the TELMAX beam, reducing its intensity by a factor of one thousand. “Meeting this technical challenge has enabled us to extend the range of intensities offered not only to the future users of TELMAX but also, if necessary, to the other experiments at the antimatter factory”, François Butin adds.
The PAX experiment will continue its work at TELMAX until July, when another experiment will take its place. And more will follow. Requests to use the TELMAX beamline are assessed by the physics coordinators of the AD/ELENA complex and, if you’re interested, there's room for more proposals!
anschaef Thu, 06/05/2025 - 11:25 Byline Anaïs Schaeffer Publication Date Thu, 06/05/2025 - 11:22The LHC reached its target of 2460 bunches per fill – the default filling scheme for 2025 – on 24 May. This milestone was achieved slightly later than anticipated in my previous Report but, impressively, still within a week of the first fill with 1200 bunches. The week that followed brought a mix of successes and challenges, but ultimately saw the LHC remaining on track to reach its luminosity production goals.
In the morning of 26 May, the SPS experienced a significant hardware fault when one of its magnets suffered an inter-turn short circuit. The first indication of the fault came from anomalous beam orbit behaviour. The SPS operations team initiated an orbit-based diagnostic, using the beam position monitor (BPM) data to localise the issue.
A dipole magnet suffering from an inter-turn short circuit was delivering a reduced integrated magnetic field, resulting in a measurable oscillation of the beam trajectory around the machine. An algorithm in the orbit measurement application, known as Kick-Buster, enabled the team to precisely identify the origin of the oscillation and therefore the affected magnet.
The technical teams rapidly swung into action to replace the magnet. By 9.15 p.m. the faulty magnet had been removed and a spare one had been installed. This was followed by alignment procedures, reconnection of the magnet vacuum system and pumping down of its vacuum chamber. This phase requires patience, as achieving the necessary vacuum level before being able to open the vacuum valves that isolate the sextant from the remainder of the machine and reestablish circulating beams takes time.
The integrated luminosity prediction (green line) and the integrated luminosity achieved for ATLAS (blue) and CMS (black). The insert on the left clearly shows the period without beam due to the SPS magnet replacement (26 and 27 May), which made us fall behind on the predicted curve, while the excellent performance afterwards allowed us to quickly catch up with the prediction. The 2 June power cut is also visible in the insert. (Image: CERN)It was possible to restart the SPS on 27 May at 2.15 p.m., followed by beam orbit re-optimisation. By 3.45 p.m. the first bunches were transferred to the LHC, and following a sequence of LHC machine checks with beam, full luminosity production resumed on 28 May at 0.30 a.m. with stable beams composed of 2460 bunches each.
A series of highly productive LHC fills with more than 5 fb-1 of integrated luminosity in five days ensued, until beam operation was interrupted in the afternoon of 1 June due to an issue with the central timing systems, which orchestrate all the equipment in the accelerators. This system relies on the GPS signal, which was no longer being distributed within the central timing system. Experts solved the issue, and recovery of beam operation was under way when, in the early hours of 2 June, a major power cut affected the entire accelerator complex.
Large-scale power outages often cause collateral damage to individual systems that increases the recovery time across the chain of accelerators. Beam availability was gradually restored, beginning with Linac4, followed sequentially by the PS Booster, PS and SPS.
The LHC was back on track with stable 2460-bunch beams on 3 June at 1.45 a.m., pursuing its quest towards the integrated luminosity goal of 120 fb-1.
anschaef Thu, 06/05/2025 - 10:46 Byline Rende Steerenberg Publication Date Thu, 06/05/2025 - 10:44To mark World Environment Day on 5 June, CERN has released its new environmental objectives for 2030, which emphasise its ongoing commitment to environmentally responsible and sustainable research. These updated goals align with CERN’s strategic vision, the evolving landscape of particle physics research and global sustainability expectations.
Building on the original objectives, published in CERN’s first Environment Report (2017–2018), these revised objectives span nine key environmental domains: energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water, biodiversity, non-hazardous waste, radioactive waste, ionising radiation, noise and hazardous substances.
Highlights include:
These objectives, developed by the CERN Environmental Protection Steering Board (CEPS) through a collaborative and iterative process, were approved by CERN’s Enlarged Directorate in 2024 and reflect a unified approach to minimising the Organization’s environmental footprint. They reflect CERN’s ambition to act as a role model for sustainable research, integrating environmental protection into all areas, from scientific operations to site management. The next long shutdown (LS3) of CERN’s accelerators, starting mid-2026, will be a pivotal moment to complete major projects, such as those targeting emissions reduction. Many of the actions taken in the period 2023–2024 will be outlined in the Organization’s fourth environment report, which will be published at the end of 2025.
Learn more about CERN’s environmental commitments on its dedicated Environmentally responsible research at CERN webpage.
CERN’s key environmental objectives for 2030. (Image: CERN)katebrad Wed, 06/04/2025 - 12:34 Byline Anna Cook Publication Date Thu, 06/05/2025 - 08:58
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles from outer space that strike Earth’s atmosphere, generating showers of secondary particles, such as muons, that can reach the planet’s surface. In recent years, ground-based experiments have detected more cosmic muons than current theoretical models predict, a discrepancy known as the muon puzzle.
Underground experiments offer good conditions for the detection of cosmic muons, because the rock or soil above the experiments absorbs the other shower components. They could therefore help to solve the muon puzzle. One example is ALICE at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Designed to study the products of heavy-ion collisions, ALICE is also well suited for detecting cosmic muons thanks to its location in a cavern 52 metres underground, shielded by 28 metres of overburden rock and an additional 1 metre of iron magnet yoke.
In a recent article published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, the ALICE collaboration reports the detection of around 165 million events containing at least one cosmic muon, as well as 15 702 events with more than four cosmic muons. This large sample was collected between 2015 and 2018 during pauses in LHC Run 2, when no particle beams were circulating in the collider. The total data-taking time amounted to 62.5 days – more than double the duration of the previous cosmic-ray campaign in LHC Run 1 (2010–2013), which recorded approximately 22.6 million events with at least one muon.
By analysing how the number of events varies with increasing muon multiplicity (the number of muons per event), the ALICE collaboration observed a smooth, decreasing trend from a multiplicity of 5 to a multiplicity of 50, beyond which the numbers of events are very small and subject to large statistical uncertainties (figure below).
Muon multiplicity distribution of events with more than four muons, as measured by ALICE over a period of 62.5 days. (Image: ALICE)The ALICE researchers compared this decreasing muon multiplicity distribution with simulations based on three models of secondary-particle production and assuming two extreme compositions of primary cosmic rays – hydrogen nuclei (protons), representing the lightest possible composition, and iron nuclei, representing a very heavy composition.
These comparisons showed that the measured distribution corresponds to primary cosmic rays with energies ranging from 4 to 60 PeV, where 1 PeV is 1015 electronvolts. In this energy range, the composition of the primary cosmic rays is expected to be a mixture of nuclear species, from protons to iron. One of the three models reproduces the observed distribution, but only when assuming that the primary cosmic rays are composed of iron. By contrast, the other two models underpredict the event count even when assuming an iron composition. While these results suggest that heavy elements dominate the composition of the primary cosmic rays, they fail to account for the expected mixed composition and the increasing fraction of heavy elements as multiplicity, and thus primary cosmic-ray energy, increases.
Focusing on rare events with more than 100 muons, the researchers found that these high-multiplicity events are well described by two of the models when assuming an iron composition. These findings are compatible with an average energy of about 100 PeV for the primary cosmic rays that likely produced these events.
The new ALICE results confirm the discrepancy between ground-based data and models that constitutes the muon puzzle. Improving the models by incorporating these results from the LHC may help to solve the puzzle.
abelchio Mon, 06/02/2025 - 13:25 Byline ALICE collaboration Publication Date Mon, 06/02/2025 - 13:22With the roll-out of 2-factor authentication (2FA) for the CERN Single Sign-On (SSO) now concluded – thank you all for helping to secure CERN! – the next step required by the 2023 CERN cybersecurity audit is to streamline all methods for remotely connecting to CERN and ensure that they are all properly 2FA-protected using the same means as the CERN SSO, i.e. your smartphone app or your hardware dongle (e.g. a YubiKey or a fingerprint reader). In parallel, any remote access to the Technical Network (TN) used for accelerator controls and CERN’s infrastructure will require 2FA protection, too. How do we plan to do this?
For remote logins to CERN, i.e. logins from the internet, there must always be three main possibilities: via the CERN SSO towards any CERN web service, via CERN’s Windows Terminal Servers (“CERNTS”), and via the interactive Linux cluster LXPLUS. Additionally, the AIADM cluster permits dedicated access for data centre managers in order to administer IT services, and the Remote Operations Gateways (ROGs) provide direct remote access to the TN for control system experts. While the latter two, AIADM and ROG, are already 2FA-protected, the Windows Terminal Servers and LXPLUS are not. But that will change in the coming months in order to fulfil the recommendation of the 2023 CERN cybersecurity audit.
(Image: CERN)For LXPLUS, based on the experience with AIADM, 2FA-protection will be integrated into the SSH login process (the so-called Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM)). As on AIADM, for every remote login, PAM will ask you to either enter the six-digit number from your smartphone app or push the button on your hardware dongle. Easy as pie as on the CERN SSO. But SSH is not a persistent communication protocol. That means that you would need to log in again as soon as your SSH client loses connection, your device changes IP address or your Wi-Fi signal is lost. With 1FA, that does not matter too much: your SSH key or your Kerberos token come to your rescue or you have to type your password again. With 2FA, it is imperative that you provide your 2FA again. While pushing your YubiKey button again might be less of an issue, typing a different six-digit code over and over again might be (or perhaps not, as it worked for the 600+ AIADM users). The IT department is trying to improve this, but every road taken here is rocky.
For CERNTS, 2FA deployment turned out to be more complicated as Microsoft does not easily allow its login process to be tweaked. Enter the “Windows Remote Desktop Access” solution: any access to CERN’s Windows Terminal Server (WTS) cluster (e.g. CERNTS) and their internal equivalents (e.g. the WTS leading to the Technical Network) will in future require connection-by-connection authorisation to be obtained via a Single Sign-On (and hence 2FA) protected webpage – the “Windows Remote Desktop Access” webpage. If you are already logged into the SSO, this is just one additional click. Otherwise, it requires the usual 2FA SSO login before you can use RDP in your WTS. A pilot has been put in production. Let us know what you think!
For the Technical Network (TN), consolidation work has begun in collaboration with the BE system administrators (more on this “TN v3.0” in a future Bulletin article). While the current established solutions – ROG and the dedicated AITNADM Linux gateway – are already using 2FA, the dedicated WTS in the TN and the numerous virtual PCs (VPCs) “trusted” by the TN for development and testing are not. While AITNADM should be extended to 2FA-protect SSH access to those VPCs, their XRDP access and the RDP access to any TN WTS will be subject to the Window Remote Desktop Access webpage mentioned above. One (more) click for the protection of your work and CERN’s accelerator complex.
Hence, for the TN the solutions are simple: for web-based control systems, ROG is your friend. Using SSH, you connect to the TN or a VPC via the established AITNADM gateway. And for any Remote Desktop connection to CERNTS or any other dedicated Windows Terminal Server as well as the XRDP session on your VPC, the new Windows Remote Desktop Access Gateway mentioned above will be your 2FA-protected entry point: before connecting you will need to request access via a dedicated webpage granting you a five-minute window to log in.
In parallel, CERN IT is also checking on that big elephant in the data centre: the industrial standard called VPN (virtual private networks). Actually, CERN has already been running a 2FA-protected VPN service since COVID times to allow teleworkers to connect to CERN’s otherwise internal licence servers, to the DFS file system and to the ESET antivirus installation servers. Soon, this spontaneous VPN service will be reduced to serve the licence service only (DFS and ESET remain accessible when at CERN). In parallel, the IT department is investigating whether to extend this to a fully fledged VPN service based on either PaloAltoVPN or eduVPN and then to open it up so that it can be used to remotely connect to any other service within CERN, e.g. to LXPLUS, thus providing the mechanism for a persistent connection that has been missing so far, or even to the Campus network.
To sum up, the IT department is currently piloting three solutions: 2FA-LXPLUS for Linux/SSH users, 2FA-Windows Remote Desktop Access Gateway for the Windows-phile, and, eventually, 2FA-VPN for persistent access to the Campus network. While there is no silver bullet for one unique access method, we believe that they still strike an adequate balance between your convenience, CERN’s operations and improved security of CERN’s accelerator control systems and IT services. Let us have your feedback!
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Do you want to learn more about computer security incidents and issues at CERN? Follow our Monthly Report. For further information, questions or help, check our website or contact us at Computer.Security@cern.ch.
anschaef Mon, 06/02/2025 - 13:07 Byline Computer Security Office Publication Date Wed, 06/04/2025 - 09:01Today marks 50 years since the European Space Agency (ESA) was established and began serving Europe as its space agency. Spacecraft and particle accelerators both operate in harsh radiation environments, extreme temperatures and high vacuum. Each must process large amounts of data quickly and autonomously. Ten years ago, ESA and CERN signed a bilateral cooperation agreement to share expertise and facilities. The goal was to expand the limits of human knowledge and keep Europe at the leading edge of progress, innovation and growth. In an article published earlier this year in the CERN Courier, Véronique Ferlet-Cavrois from ESA and Markus Brugger and Enrico Chesta from CERN highlight seven ways the two organisations have since been working together to further fundamental exploration and innovation in space technologies.
1. Mapping the Universe
The Euclid space telescope, which was launched in 2023 and began observations in 2024, is exploring the dark Universe by mapping the large-scale structure of billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years across more than a third of the sky. With many CERN cosmologists involved in testing theories of physics beyond the Standard Model, Euclid first became a CERN-recognised experiment in 2015. CERN also contributes to the development of Euclid’s “science ground segment” (SGS), which converts raw data received from the spacecraft into usable scientific products such as galaxy catalogues and dark-matter maps. CERN’s virtual-machine file system (CernVM-FS) has been integrated into the SGS to allow continuous software deployment across Euclid’s nine data centres and on developers’ laptops.
2. Planetary exploration
Though planetary exploration is conceptually far from fundamental physics, its technical demands require similar expertise. A good example is the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, which should reach Jupiter in July 2031 and make detailed observations of the gas giant and its three large ocean-bearing moons. Jupiter’s magnetic field is a million times greater in volume than Earth’s magnetosphere, trapping large fluxes of highly energetic electrons and protons. Before JUICE, the direct and indirect impact of high-energy electrons on modern electronic devices had never been studied before. Two test campaigns took place in the VESPER facility, which is part of the CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research (CLEAR) project. Components were tested with tuneable beam energies of between 60 and 200 MeV, and average fluxes of roughly 108 electrons per square centimetre per second, mirroring expected radiation levels in the Jovian system.
3. Earth observation
Earth observation from orbit has applications ranging from environmental monitoring to weather forecasting. CERN and ESA collaborate on both developing the advanced technologies required by these applications and ensuring they can operate in the harsh radiation environment of space. In 2017 and 2018, ESA teams came to CERN’s North Area with several partner companies to test the performance of radiation monitors, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and electronics chips in ultra-high-energy ion beams at the Super Proton Synchrotron.
More recently, CERN joined Edge SpAIce – an EU project to monitor ecosystems and track plastic pollution in the oceans. The project uses CERN’s high-level synthesis for machine learning (hls4ml) AI technology to run models on an FPGA chip that was launched on board the Balkan-1 satellite in January 2025.
4. Dosimetry for human spaceflight
In space, nothing is more important than astronauts’ safety and well-being. To this end, in August 2021 ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet activated the LUMINA experiment inside the International Space Station (ISS), as part of the ALPHA mission. LUMINA uses two several-kilometre-long optical fibres as active dosimeters to measure ionising radiation aboard the ISS. Having studied optical-fibre-based technologies for many years, CERN helped optimise the architecture of the dosimeters and performed tests to calibrate the instrument, which will operate on the ISS for a period of up to five years.
5. Radiation-hardness assurance
It’s no mean feat to ensure that CERN’s accelerator infrastructure functions in increasingly challenging radiation environments. Similar challenges are found in space. So-called radiation-hardness assurance (RHA) reduces radiation-induced failures in space through environment simulations, part selection and testing, radiation-tolerant design, worst-case analysis and shielding definition. Since its creation in 2008, CERN’s Radiation to Electronics project has amplified the work of many equipment and service groups in modelling, mitigating and testing the effect of radiation on electronics. A decade later, joint test campaigns with ESA demonstrated the value of CERN’s facilities and expertise to RHA for spaceflight. This led to the signing of a joint protocol on radiation environments, technologies and facilities in 2019.
To enable testing of highly integrated electronic components, ESA supported studies to develop high-energy heavy-ion testing capabilities for micro-electronics (CHIMERA), which led to the High-Energy Accelerators for Radiation Testing and Shielding (HEARTS) programme sponsored by the European Commission. The programme’s 2024 pilot user run enabled a dozen aerospace companies to perform business-critical research on electronic components using ion beams from the Proton Synchrotron for the first time.
6. In-orbit demonstrators
Weighing 1 kg and measuring just 10 cm on each side, the CELESTA satellite was designed to study the effects of cosmic radiation on electronics. Initiated in partnership with the University of Montpellier and ESA, and launched in July 2022, CELESTA was CERN’s first in-orbit technology demonstrator. As well as providing the first opportunity for the CERN high-energy-accelerator mixed-field (CHARM) facility to test a full satellite, CELESTA made it possible to flight-qualify SpaceRadMon, a miniaturised version of the LHC’s well-proven radiation monitoring device. SpaceRadMon has since been adopted by other ESA missions such as Trisat and GENA-OT, and could be used in the future as a low-cost predictive maintenance tool to reduce space debris and improve space sustainability.
7. Stimulating the space economy
Space technology is a fast-growing industry replete with opportunities for public–private cooperation. Whether spun off from space exploration or particle physics, start-up companies and high-tech ventures receive support from ESA and CERN to bring to market technologies with positive societal and economic impacts. The use of CERN’s Timepix technology in space missions is a prime example. Private company Advacam collaborated with the Czech Technical University to provide a Timepix-based radiation-monitoring payload called SATRAM to ESA’s Proba-V mission in order to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days.
Another example is SigmaLabs – a Polish startup founded by CERN alumni specialising in radiation detectors and predictive-maintenance R&D for space applications. SigmaLabs was recently selected by ESA and the Polish Space Agency to provide one of the experiments expected to fly on Axiom Mission 4 – a private spaceflight to the ISS scheduled for launch in June 2025 that will include Polish astronaut and CERN engineer Sławosz Uznański. The experiment will assess the scalability and versatility of the SpaceRadMon technology.
This text is an edited extract of the CERN Courier article authored by Véronique Ferlet-Cavrois from ESA and Markus Brugger and Enrico Chesta from CERN.
abelchio Wed, 05/28/2025 - 14:28 Publication Date Fri, 05/30/2025 - 14:25“Outdoor Spots” is transforming underused outdoor spaces at CERN into vibrant areas that promote soft mobility and a stronger sense of community. The project addresses challenges in navigating the Meyrin and Prévessin sites by linking key locations, creating a network of user-friendly pathways to encourage walking and biking.
The IT square, between Buildings 513 and 31, includes five picnic tables connected by a footpath and surrounded by new and existing vegetation. A unique pedestrian pathway, resembling a distorted blue crosswalk, links the Data Centre to Building 31, facilitating movement between the entrances and the cafeteria, thereby encouraging outdoor circulation. (Image: CERN)The project, launched last year as part of the Site Development Plan, is led by members of the SCE department in charge of landscaping and architectural integration. It draws inspiration from similar urban design initiatives around the world. Cities like Barcelona and Copenhagen have successfully revitalised asphalt-dominated areas by incorporating artistic and green elements. These interventions have not only beautified the spaces but also reduced car traffic without major construction work.
Outdoor Spots will share a common design language for easy recognition and maintenance. This includes consistent furniture, permeable ground surfaces, greenery and a coherent colour scheme. The elements will be adapted to each location’s specific context, ensuring both functionality and a sense of location.
Several Outdoor Spots already exist, such as the IT square, near the IT department’s buildings (Buildings 513 and 31); another near CERN’s kindergarten, which creates a pedestrian walkway that reduces traffic near Buildings 4 and 5; and one at Square Van Hove, the former Microcosm Garden, which has been beautifully reintegrated into the heart of CERN’s fenced campus, for the benefit of the entire CERN community. The redesigned spaces feature new lighting, greenery, clear signage and comfortable outdoor furniture – perfect for working, gathering or enjoying a picnic.
The Square Van Hove Outdoor Spot is also equipped with modern bike racks (with capacity for 40 bicycles) and two e-chargers to support CERN’s growing fleet of electric vehicles.
All Outdoor Spots are flagged as “Picnic areas” on MapCERN, making them easy to locate (Points of interest > Food & Drinks > Picnic area).
katebrad Thu, 05/22/2025 - 11:56 Publication Date Fri, 05/23/2025 - 08:55The reconfiguration of the cryogenic system, which is essential to provide the additional cryogenic capacity needed to run the LHC with bunch trains (only individual bunches are being injected into the LHC at first), was successfully completed on 7 May. This was promptly followed by a two-day scrubbing run, which was sufficient to achieve the vacuum conditions necessary for the injection of trains of bunches spaced by 25 ns.
Following the scrubbing, the focus shifted to the intensity ramp-up. Some final commissioning and machine optimisation steps also continued, with the aim of reaching 1200 bunches per beam by 19 May.
At 1:20 a.m. on 19 May, the LHC engineer-in-charge started the injection process with the aim of colliding around 1200 bunches for the first time in 2025. After a final round of checks in the injector chain, the SPS delivered bunch trains comprising 4 batches of 36 bunches each. The injection into the LHC was completed at 2:12 a.m., and acceleration of the beam to 6.8 TeV was achieved 22 minutes later, at 2:34 a.m.
Two final steps were then still required to reach stable beams for physics: the “squeeze” and the “adjust”. During the squeeze, the beams are focussed by powerful quadrupole magnets (the inner triplets) located on either side of the experiments. In the adjust step, the focussed beams are carefully steered in the experiments to ensure optimal overlap at the collision points, thereby maximising the collision rate.
At 2:53 a.m., both steps were completed and stable beams were declared, signalling to the experiments that data taking for physics could start.
Three fills with 1200 bunches, totalling 20 hours of stable beams, were completed, meeting the necessary conditions to move to the next step of the intensity ramp-up. As I write, the first fill with 1800 bunches has just started. Once the same conditions have been met, the final step will be taken to reach 2460 bunches per beam, the LHC’s planned filling scheme for luminosity production during the 2025 run. If all goes according to plan, the 2460 bunches should already be circulating in the LHC when you read this report. I invite you to check LHC page 1… Are we on schedule?
The display of the Beam Synchrotron Radiation Telescope (BSRT) for the first fill with 1200 bunches. The blue on the left-hand side is beam 1 (clockwise) and the red on the right-hand side is beam 2 (counter-clockwise). The upper part shows a two-dimensional picture of one bunch in each beam – this is measured by collecting the synchrotron radiation that the high-energy protons emit when travelling through a magnetic field. The lower part of the display shows the horizontal and vertical beam size (emittance) of both beams. Each small line represents a single bunch. (Image: CERN)On the injectors side, fixed-target physics is progressing well, with good overall beam availability, while preparations for the upcoming oxygen and neon ion runs – we will indeed also see neon ions in the machines this year! – are well under way. Oxygen and neon runs in the LHC and oxygen-only runs in the SPS North Area are scheduled for July.
The Linac3 source, typically used to produce lead ions, has been reconfigured to deliver oxygen ions to the LEIR machine. LEIR already successfully accelerated and transferred the oxygen ions to the PS earlier this week. The SPS is scheduled to receive oxygen ions on 10 June to begin the set-up operations of the machine and beam, with the goal of delivering the oxygen ions to the LHC as of 29 June. A dedicated four-day physics run with oxygen ions is planned from 3 to 6 July.
On 7 July, immediately after the oxygen ion run, the entire chain (Linac3, LEIR, PS, SPS and LHC) will switch to neon ions for a one-day run, before transitioning back to protons. Linac3 and LEIR have already proven themselves able to switch between the two species in a matter of hours. Next week, the PS too will test switching between oxygen and neon.
anschaef Thu, 05/22/2025 - 10:19 Byline Rende Steerenberg Publication Date Thu, 05/22/2025 - 10:18
United by a shared vision, countries came together in Switzerland in the 1950s for science, but also for music. Whether you love it or loathe it, you can’t ignore the parallels that the Eurovision Song Contest has with CERN, even if the shared visions are very different.
With Basel hosting the 2025 song contest, CERN was approached earlier this year to be one of the iconic Swiss locations featured in a “postcard” – a short film shown before a performance. Each artist was assigned a location, and CERN welcomed EMMY, the artist representing Ireland. Filmed at CERN Science Gateway, the CERN Control Centre and underground at the ATLAS experiment, the CERN postcard was shown in the second semi-final that aired on Thursday, 15 May. Sadly, EMMY didn’t make it to the final, so here is the video clip in case you missed it:
(Video: Eurovision/EBU)
What did make it to the final was a “Made in Switzerland” song showcasing inventions that included the World Wide Web at CERN (even if they referred to it as “internet”…). CERN continues to contribute to digital innovations for industry and society, and there are many ways in which the CERN community can be involved in knowledge transfer activities.
As the years have passed, both CERN and Eurovision have extended beyond Europe. In 2015, when Australia took part in Eurovision for the first time, CERN welcomed its first Associate Member State in the context of its geographical enlargement policy. In recent weeks, Ireland and Chile have become the latest countries to sign agreements to join the CERN family as new Associate Member States.
Whether countries are united by music or by pushing the boundaries of fundamental science, it is a cause for celebration!
anschaef Wed, 05/21/2025 - 21:12 Byline Kate Kahle Publication Date Fri, 05/23/2025 - 10:22From 1 to 11 mai 2025, CERN participated for the second year in a row at the Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc International Fair in La Roche-sur-Foron, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year. Following a successful participation in 2024, CERN returned this year to meet its neighbours in Haute-Savoie and invited visitors to explore its exhibition booth, to discover its mission and learn how particle physics research impacts our daily lives and helps shape our future.
Highlights at the booth included:
• The "Seeing the Invisible" workshop, to explore what the eye cannot see;
• The "Particle Identity" game, to find out which particle best matches your personality;
• And most importantly, the chance to engage with passionate scientists from CERN and the Annecy Particle Physics Laboratory (LAPP), a long-standing partner of CERN, who were available to answer questions and satisfy the audience’s curiosity. Visitors also had the opportunity to talk to members of the team in charge of the Future Circular Collider (FCC) project.
With more than 100 000 visitors and 500 exhibitors, the fair provided CERN with a privileged opportunity to connect with its neighbours and the broader community. By renewing its participation, CERN reaffirmed its commitment to making science accessible to everyone, sharing the fruits of its research and demonstrating its concrete contribution to building a future grounded in knowledge, innovation and cooperation.
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This is an extract from this article published on the website “CERN and its neighbours”.
anschaef Wed, 05/21/2025 - 12:27 Byline Zoe Nikolaidou Publication Date Thu, 05/22/2025 - 09:22
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