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With 100 fb⁻¹ delivered to both ATLAS and CMS, the LHC Machine Committee (LMC) had given the green light to gradually increase the bunch intensity from 1.63×10¹¹ protons per bunch to 1.7×10¹¹, with a possible further step to 1.75×10¹¹ protons per bunch. At the beginning of 2025, there had even been the idea to aim for 1.8×10¹¹ protons per bunch, but it now appears that 1.75×10¹¹ is close to the maximum the cryogenic system can handle. The limiting factor is the electron-cloud-induced heat load, which must be evacuated by the cryogenic system. A change in the filling scheme (i.e. bunch pattern and total number of bunches) could help, but there is, in general, little appetite for such an adjustment.
On 14 October, following what initially appeared to be a successful increase in bunch intensity, three consecutive fills were dumped due to losses at Point 2. These losses were correlated with increased vacuum activity in the non-conforming RF-finger vacuum module located in cell 6 left of Point 2 (6L2).
As a consequence, on the morning of 15 October, the bunch intensity was reduced to 1.5×10¹¹ protons, following which both beams could again be brought into collision. However, a second fill at the same intensity again showed signs of vacuum activity. It was therefore decided to further reduce the bunch intensity to 1.4×10¹¹ protons. This reduction, however, comes with an estimated loss of about 8% in luminosity production.
This naturally raised the question of whether the non-conforming RF-finger vacuum module should be replaced. Experts estimated that such an intervention would require a two-week technical stop, with possible temporary consequences for ALICE background levels once operations resumed. Since this option was not favoured, and as the non-conforming module only affects Beam 1, the decision was taken to keep Beam 1 at 1.4×10¹¹ protons per bunch, while continuing to increase the bunch intensity for Beam 2.
This approach required adaptations in the injector complex to allow each beam to be filled with different bunch intensities, a challenge that was met thanks to the remarkable flexibility and adaptability of the injector complex and its operations teams.
On the morning of 17 October, new X-ray images of the RF-finger module confirmed no significant evolution of the non-conformity. Later that day, Beam 1 was filled with bunches at 1.4×10¹¹ protons per bunch, and Beam 2 with 1.65×10¹¹ protons per bunch, as a first step. A successful two-step increase of the Beam 2 bunch intensity then followed over the weekend, reaching 1.7×10¹¹ protons per bunch.
Electron-cloud-induced heat load in the eight LHC arcs. The image shows a significant variation in heat load between arcs for the same beam conditions. Arcs 78 and 81 are clearly the most limiting, as the cryogenic system can tolerate up to 175 W per half-cell. On the right, the reduction in heat load resulting from the lower bunch intensity is clearly visible. (Image: CERN)As the electron-cloud-induced heat load decreases with lower bunch intensity, the reduction in Beam 1 intensity freed up additional cooling capacity in the cryogenic system. This allowed a further increase in the Beam 2 bunch intensity, while remaining within the system’s operational limit of 175 W per half-cell.
Since this operating regime had not yet been explored, the proposal was carefully reviewed and approved by the LHC Machine Committee (LMC) on 22 October. The next day, on 23 October, Beam 2 reached 1.8×10¹¹ protons per bunch in collision for the first time, with a fully filled machine and, crucially, without any noticeable vacuum activity.
With this configuration, the potential 8% loss in luminosity caused by running both beams at 1.4×10¹¹ protons per bunch could be mostly compensated for. The luminosity curve recovered nearly its original gradient, putting the LHC back on track to reach the target of 120 fb⁻¹.
Thanks to its excellent performance, and despite the challenges encountered along the way, the LHC has celebrated several major milestones in recent days.
On 22 October, the LHC surpassed 500 fb⁻¹ of total integrated luminosity accumulated over all three runs combined. Then, on the morning of 27 October, CMS reached its target of 120 fb⁻¹. LHCb and ALICE had already achieved their respective goals of 12 fb⁻¹ and 50 nb⁻¹ during the weekend. By the evening of 27 October, ATLAS had also reached its 120 fb⁻¹ target. Therefore, by the end of the day, all luminosity objectives for the 2025 proton-physics run had been successfully achieved, with a full week still remaining before the switch to lead-ion operation.
The integrated luminosity curves on the morning of 27 October, showing the prediction (green line) and the integrated luminosity achieved for ATLAS (blue dots) and CMS (black dots), with CMS surpassing the 2025 target of 120 fb-1 and ATLAS almost touching it. (Image: CERN)When one challenge is met, we naturally look forward to the next. In our case, the next one is to beat the 2024 record integrated luminosity of 124.3 fb⁻¹ (average of ATLAS and CMS). Stay tuned – the race is not over yet!
ehatters Wed, 10/29/2025 - 17:11 Byline Rende Steerenberg Publication Date Tue, 10/28/2025 - 17:05During the September 2025 CMS week, the CMS collaboration announced the winners of the 2024 CMS PhD Thesis Award. After a rigorous evaluation of a remarkable pool of 19 nominees, the collaboration honoured Congqiao Li (Peking University, CN), Christina Wenlu Wang (California Institute of Technology (Caltech), US) and Ho Fung Tsoi (University of Wisconsin–Madison, US) for their exceptional work.
This award celebrates the brightest young minds in high-energy physics within the collaboration, recognising doctoral theses that demonstrate unparalleled creativity and scientific excellence and have a significant impact on the CMS experiment and the broader field.
“Graduate students are the bloodstream of our collaboration. They push the envelope of what is achievable at the LHC in ever-changing and inventive ways. […]. The annual CMS Thesis Award recognises exceptional efforts made by the award winners and highlights their research.” – Greg Landsberg, chair of the CMS PhD Thesis Award Committee
Read more about the 2024 CMS PhD Thesis Award winners on the CMS website.
2025 Young Researcher Prize winnersThat same week, the CMS collaboration also announced the 2025 Young Researcher Prize winners: Cécile Caillol, Elisabetta Manca, Mario Masciovecchio and Jennifer Ngadiuba.
This award recognises the contributions of truly exceptional young researchers to the CMS experiment. It is a moment to celebrate their dedication, innovation and significant impact on the field of particle physics. By honouring these talented individuals, the collaboration aims to inspire future generations of scientists to push the boundaries of knowledge.
Read more about the 2025 Young Researcher Prize winners on the CMS website.
anschaef Wed, 10/29/2025 - 14:42 Byline CMS collaboration Publication Date Thu, 10/30/2025 - 08:37Our last article discussed the mess of control system cybersecurity 20 years ago and today. Nothing has changed, it seems. But does that really matter? In fact, it does.
While eagerly expected by experts, the first dominant incident on control systems reported by the media was the Stuxnet attack of 2010 against the Iranian nuclear programme allegedly conducted by some secret services. Infiltrating the nuclear processing site at Natanz, a USB stick with malicious software intercepted the traffic for a standard Siemens 300-series PLC and manipulated its program such that the controlled centrifuges spun at varying speeds (hence creating wear-out) while the human–machine interface told the operators that all the rotational speeds were constant and nominal. This broke the watershed; the Stuxnet malware itself and variations thereof started infecting control systems worldwide, causing various degrees of damage.
Another major incident combined the office IT, dispatching software and seaborne control systems of the logistics company Maersk. It was compromised by the “Not Petya” ransomware, which “dominoed” from one office system to another, not only disrupting the global operation of one of the world’s largest shipping companies but also inflicting damage of up to 300 million USD. More recent global political events have shown the impact of breaking supply chains on the global economy.
The latter incident in particular illustrates the immense dependency of our civilised way of life on control systems. And accelerator and large experimental physics control systems are not exempt from such doomsday scenarios and certainly not from “lighter” incidents. Many universities and institutes worldwide have been subject to cyberattacks by ransomware gangs in the past decade. Among others, the ransomware gang “Vice Society” explicitly targeted the research and education sector. Hundreds of universities fell to them; their IT infrastructure – data centre services, storage system, networking infrastructure, and laptop and PC endpoints – failed and had to be completely reinitialised. The Helmholtz Zentrum in Berlin (HZB) is another unfortunate example: their IT was crippled for more than a year, their BESSY II accelerator was halted for half a year, and researchers and PhD students were stuck waiting for new data.
A year earlier, in 2022, the ALMA telescope complex in the Atacama Desert in Chile suffered a similar fate. Its control systems compromised by ransomware, research and operations idly awaited reinstallation, causing damage of 250 000 USD a day.
The convergence of OT and ITDespite all these black swans, control systems have embraced modern IT systems more than ever. As predicted already in 2005, not only are web servers totally integrated in the operation of control and safety systems, but also virtual machines and containerisation have made it to the plant floor of accelerators and experiments. A quick look at the timetable of this year’s ICALEPCS conference reveals that today the development and deployment workflows of accelerator and experiment control systems integrate modern continuous integration and delivery frameworks (like GitLab CI/CD), automatically importing software libraries and packages from the internet (using PyPI and NPM) or moving control systems partially or entirely to the cloud. Following modern trends, machine learning and big data analysis have been embraced for, e.g., predictive maintenance, and artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLM) are being trained with a view to soon allowing 100% autonomous operation of current and future accelerators and experiment data taking.
This, despite all the risks linked to cybersecurity and often neglecting or ignoring the consequences of a successful attack... So, what to do? The next Bulletin will reveal all.
This is an abridged version of an article that first appeared in the proceedings of the ICALEPCS 2025 conference.
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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 Tue, 10/28/2025 - 12:53 Byline Computer Security Office Publication Date Thu, 10/30/2025 - 08:46Ireland has officially become an Associate Member State of CERN, following confirmation that it has taken all the necessary steps to ratify the Associate Membership Agreement and accede to the protocol on CERN’s privileges and immunities. The starting date of Ireland’s status as an Associate Member State is 22 October 2025.
The ratification of the agreement, which was signed in May 2025 by the CERN Director-General, Fabiola Gianotti, and James Lawless, Ireland’s Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, marks the beginning of a new chapter in CERN’s relations with Ireland and opens up new opportunities.
CERN’s collaboration with institutes from Ireland has a long history, dating back to the 1960s, when Ireland participated in bubble-chamber experiments at CERN. Since then, the country’s scientific community at CERN has made important contributions across a wide range of fields, including experimental physics, theory, medical applications and computer science.
Major CERN experiments and facilities, such as ATLAS, CMS, LHCb and ISOLDE, have all benefited from Ireland’s involvement, and Associate Membership will ensure that the country’s contributions can continue and expand in the years to come.
Irish representatives will now participate in meetings of the CERN Council and its committees, including the Finance Committee and the Scientific Policy Committee. Nationals of Ireland are eligible to apply for limited-duration staff positions and to CERN’s graduate programmes, and Irish firms can bid for CERN contracts, increasing opportunities for industrial collaboration on advanced technologies.
rodrigug Mon, 10/20/2025 - 16:29 Publication Date Wed, 10/22/2025 - 13:46Most atomic nuclei are round or the shape of a rugby ball. But some have been found to have a more exotic pear shape, with more mass at one end than the other.
Writing in the journal Science, an international team of researchers describes how a combination of theoretical calculations and measurements of a molecule containing a pear-shaped nucleus, radium monofluoride (225Ra19F), has borne fruit.
Based on data taken at CERN’s ISOLDE facility, the very same facility where the unusual shape of these nuclei was first revealed, the results uncover fresh details of the energy-level structure of these unstable molecules.
Atomic and molecular energy levels are kind of like rungs on a ladder. But the rungs split into finer sub-levels. Precise measurements of these tiny splittings allow important tests of the Standard Model of particle physics, since they are sensitive to potential new particles and forces and to imperfections in the fundamental mathematical symmetries of nature.
Compared with atoms and standard molecules, molecules containing pear-shaped nuclei such as 225Ra offer a more powerful way to look for such “new physics”. The catch is that these molecules are unstable and not found in nature, so researchers must first produce them in the lab and then find clever ways to study them before they vanish. For example, 225Ra19F molecules have a lifetime of about 20 days, as the 225Ra nucleus undergoes radioactive decay on that timescale.
What’s more, to isolate potential new-physics information from precise measurements of these molecules, researchers also need cutting-edge theoretical calculations with which to compare the measurements. These calculations in turn require a detailed understanding of how the pear-shaped nucleus influences the molecular energy levels through its interaction with the cloud of electrons that reaches inside the nucleus.
The new ISOLDE study revealed details of just such influence with a measurement of the hyperfine structure of the 225Ra19F molecule. A molecular hyperfine structure is the extra-fine splitting of energy levels caused by the interaction between the molecule’s nuclei and the magnetic field generated by its electrons.
To measure the hyperfine structure of 225Ra19F, the researchers used the collinear resonance ionisation spectroscopy (CRIS) apparatus at the ISOLDE facility in a set-up involving three lasers that give off short, intense bursts of light. Combined with state-of-the-art molecular-structure calculations, the measurements revealed how the 225Ra nucleus influences the energy levels through the electron–nucleus interaction within the nucleus.
“We observed the effect of the spread of magnetism within the 225Ra nucleus on the 225Ra19F energy levels, a phenomenon that has been previously observed in atoms but not in a molecule,” says Shane Wilkins, who was a lead researcher on the study alongside Silviu Udrescu. “Our results help shape future research aimed at using these molecules to test fundamental symmetries of nature and hunt for new physics.”
abelchio Mon, 10/20/2025 - 13:00 Byline Ana Lopes Publication Date Thu, 10/23/2025 - 20:00Intensity is rising in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC): last week, the accelerator propelled particle bunches containing more than 230 billion protons (2.3 x 1011): 40% more than standard bunches. As they collided inside the experiments, these bunches generated an average of 150 collisions, compared to around 65 collisions during ordinary operations. These tests, which ran for several hours, were aiming to study the lifespan of beams in collision mode, in conditions similar to those expected in the High-Luminosity (HL-LHC).
The HL-LHC, due to be commissioned in 2030, will significantly increase the number of collisions that occur inside the accelerator. For this, it requires new equipment that will concentrate the particle beams just before they cross at the heart of the ATLAS and CMS experiments. It also called for a major upgrade of the CERN accelerator complex.
Video explaining why and how CERN will increase the intensity of the LHC beam. (Video: CERN)Before being shot into the 27-kilometre loop of the LHC, particles are revved up by a succession of four other accelerators which form the injector chain. An extensive upgrade programme (LHC Injectors Upgrade – LIU) was performed on each of the links in this chain so as to produce more intense beams, i.e. containing more particles. “One of the objectives was to double the number of protons in each bunch, and at the same time reduce their dispersion”, explains Giovanni Rumolo, accelerator physicist and former deputy leader of the LIU project.
This project, which took place over a ten-year period ending in 2021, involved multiple worksites, including the commissioning of a new linear accelerator, Linac 4, which is the first link in the accelerator chain, and major renovations and upgrades of all the other injectors and of the infrastructure required for their operation.
When this work was completed, experts spent another four years commissioning and optimising the beams in each injector. For the first time last May, the injection chain produced a beam with the expected characteristics: an intensity of 230 billion protons per bunch (2.3 × 10¹¹) and a cross-sectional dimension (emittance) of 1.95 micrometres. Yet this beam still needed to circulate in the LHC. So last week, the LHC accelerated these intense beams up to 6.8 TeV before bringing them into collision inside the experiments.
However, only 600 bunches were circulated during this test – compared to around 2 500 during an ordinary run – in order to avoid overloading the accelerator and the experiments. The HL-LHC will circulate over 2 700 bunches; its new focusing magnets, which are more powerful than those installed today, will concentrate these bunches in order to obtain even higher luminosity.
“The next step is to check that these beams can be produced in a stable and repeatable manner”, Rumolo continues. The beam tests will continue until summer 2026 and the start of start the long shutdown, during which the equipment for the high luminosity phase will be installed.
On 8 October, the increased intensity beams generated an average of 150 collisions inside the experiments. This image shows an event – a collection of simultaneous collisions – reconstructed by the CMS experiment. In total, 206 collisions were recorded, as indicated by the 206 yellow circles. The lines show the 9 381 tracks of charged particles generated by the collisions. (Image: CMS) cmenard Fri, 10/17/2025 - 16:28 Byline Corinne Pralavorio Publication Date Fri, 10/17/2025 - 14:25In the morning of 6 October, just a few hours before the start of the four-day machine development (MD) block, the LHC beams were dumped after a minor instability in the cryogenic system at Point 2. Fortunately, the issue was resolved swiftly and the recovery was quick, allowing the MD programme to begin as planned.
The final fill before the MD block proved particularly rewarding, as it brought the total integrated luminosity above the forecast curve and pushed us past the symbolic 100 fb⁻¹ mark. With the 2025 target of 120 fb⁻¹ now just 20 fb⁻¹ away, the finish line is in sight, but the race is not yet done. Following the slightly ahead-of-schedule completion of the MD block in the evening of 9 October, only 24 days remained until the end of the 2025 proton run on 3 November. Achieving the goal is challenging but within reach, provided the machine availability remains high and no unexpected glitches occur.
The integrated luminosity prediction (green line) and the integrated luminosity achieved for ATLAS (blue dots) and CMS (black dots), surpassing the forecast curve and the 100 fb-1 milestone just before the MD3 block. The blue bands in June, September and October represent MD blocks 1 to 3. (Image: CERN)Following a proposal presented at the LHC Machine Committee (LMC) on 9 September, and subsequently confirmed at the LMC meeting on 8 October, it was decided to allow a gradual increase in bunch intensity from 1.63×10¹¹ to 1.70×10¹¹ protons per bunch.
If this increase proceeds smoothly, the plan is to continue raising the intensity towards the proposed 1.75×10¹¹ protons per bunch. This value is expected to represent the upper limit achievable with the current filling scheme, while remaining within the maximum electron-cloud-induced heat load that the cryogenic system can safely handle for the moment.
Meanwhile, the machines in the injector chain have again demonstrated excellent beam availability for the fixed-target physics programme in recent weeks. The lead-ion beam has been fully recommissioned in Linac3, LEIR and the PS, and the focus has now shifted to the SPS, which is preparing the lead-ion cycles for both the LHC and the North Area fixed-target experiments.
The SPS received lead ions for the first time in 2025 on 13 October. As I write, the SPS has just completed its first two ten-hour parallel commissioning blocks, during which the initial few bunches were successfully slip-stacked.
The SPS page 1 with the SPS fixed-target proton cycles in yellow and the short parallel commissioning lead-ion cycle in blue. (Image: CERN)The remainder of the SPS lead-ion recommissioning will continue during three dedicated ten-hour commissioning slots on 15 and 29 October and 5 November, before sending the lead ions to the LHC for recommissioning prior to the physics run.
anschaef Thu, 10/16/2025 - 11:47 Byline Rende Steerenberg Publication Date Fri, 10/17/2025 - 08:46
The meeting of the High-Luminosity LHC collaboration at the beginning of October saw the baton passed to a new project leader. Oliver Brüning, who has led the HL-LHC project since 2020, will become CERN’s new Director for Accelerators and Technology as of 1 January. He is handing the position of HL-LHC project leader over to Markus Zerlauth, his deputy since 2020, who has been involved with the project since 2012. “The next five years will be a challenging yet very rewarding period for the entire project, seeing the design and production efforts of more than 15 years taking shape in the LHC tunnel and underground areas,” Markus Zerlauth says. “I am very much looking forward to continuing the excellent work and collaboration with all of the teams to jointly achieve our important objective of successfully restarting the LHC in its high-luminosity configuration by June 2030!”
The HL-LHC is currently in an advanced phase of production of multiple components, and installation has begun in buildings on the surface and in the new underground galleries. Most of the equipment will be installed during the third long shutdown, which will begin in the summer of 2026, with commissioning scheduled for mid-2030.
See also the article published on the HL-LHC website.
anschaef Thu, 10/16/2025 - 11:19 Byline Corinne Pralavorio Publication Date Thu, 10/16/2025 - 11:17
On 14 October, CERN unveiled the Nobel medal of Felix Bloch, generously donated by Bloch’s family on the 120th anniversary of the physicist’s birth. Now part of the CERN archives, this medal will be on permanent display at the CERN Library (building 52, first floor), alongside the Nobel medal of Wolfgang Pauli.
Felix Bloch (1905–1983) was the first Director-General of CERN from 1954 to 1955. He is known for his work on nuclear induction, winning the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physics for the “development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements”. This work not only contributed significantly to the field of physics, but also revolutionised diagnostic medicine.
Wolfgang Pauli received the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physics for his reformulation of the exclusion principle, which governs the coexistence of particles such as the electron. When he was still only a student, Bloch worked as Pauli’s assistant from 1928 to 1929. Franca Pauli, Wolfgang Pauli’s widow, donated her husband’s personal archives to CERN in 1960 and 1971.
The unveiling ceremony took place in the CERN Library in the presence of one of Bloch’s sons and three of his grandchildren, as well as members of the CERN Directorate. In her speech, Director for International Relations Charlotte Warakaulle thanked the Bloch family for its donation, echoing the feelings of optimism and faith in fundamental science expressed by Felix Bloch when CERN was founded.
“We are truly honoured that the Bloch family has chosen to entrust CERN with the Nobel medal that was awarded to Felix Bloch,” Warakaulle declared. “We hope that the Nobel medals of Felix Bloch and Wolfgang Pauli, displayed right here at the CERN Library in the heart of the Laboratory, will spur on the next generation of physicists to also set their ambitions high by giving them the courage, commitment, dedication and enthusiasm necessary to succeed.” To quote Bloch himself: “we can be sure that this challenge will be met”.
anschaef Thu, 10/16/2025 - 11:39 Byline Anaïs Schaeffer Corinne Pralavorio Publication Date Fri, 10/17/2025 - 08:38Releasing the World Wide Web software into the public domain revolutionised global culture, helping people share information more widely than ever before. This was a key moment in CERN’s long history of open science, a movement which aims to make scientific research and its applications accessible to all. CERN’s founding convention gave the Organization an early mandate for open science, a principle which is now a cornerstone of European research policy.
The CERN Open Science Office, set up in 2023, helps ensure CERN remains a world leader in open science practices. From 15 to 17 September, they worked with OpenAIRE to host the Open Science Fair (OSFair 2025) at CERN Science Gateway. Occuring every two years, this fair brings together open science practitioners from around the world to help widen access to scientific research.
Attendees of OSFair 2025. (Image: CERN)This year, 353 participants from 43 countries came together to discuss the future of open science. This included not only researchers, librarians and data stewards, but also funders, infrastructure providers, publishers and many more who are actively working to open up science. Discussions at the conference centred around five key topics: impact measurement and monitoring; research security; digital infrastructures; skills and community; and research assessment.
“The increasing complexity of global challenges demands collective, international solutions,” said Kamran Naim, Head of Open Science at CERN. “Openness in research must be continually nurtured through collaboration, creativity and sustained dedication. This year’s fair developed ideas to strengthen open science: both as a core value and as a working model for research that serves society.”
Recordings and materials are available from the CERN Document Server and the OSFair Zenodo Community.
ehatters Wed, 10/15/2025 - 16:14 Publication Date Wed, 10/15/2025 - 16:03As part of the Future Circular Collider (FCC) Feasibility Study, Lake Geneva underwater investigations have now begun. Taking place in 2025 and 2026, these explorations are using two techniques: seismic waves to analyse the geological layers beneath the lakebed and drilling to collect and study soil samples. The data collected will be made freely available to interested local authorities and researchers.
As part of a local information campaign, the FCC Feasibility Study team has produced a short animation to explain more about the process:
This animation explains how investigations under Lake Geneva are taking place in order to adapt the depth of the proposed project to the local geological characteristics. (Video: CERN)
These underwater investigations complement the ongoing underground investigations being conducted in the local area. To find out more about the schedule and location of these investigations, visit: https://fcc-faisabilite.eu/calendrier/
At CERN, the Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) are our safety frontline: first responders in emergencies and trusted guides in both real evacuations and drills. On 26 September 2025, roles were reversed as the firefighters themselves were tested in a large-scale evacuation exercise.
This novel drill formed part of CERN’s wider safety objectives, focused on increasing emergency preparedness before Long Shutdown 3 (LS3). When the departments and large experiments were invited to propose buildings for inclusion in evacuation exercises, the fire station itself was suggested and the idea was met with enthusiasm.
The premise of the exercise was simple: how would the CFRS react when an incident struck their own base? “The CFRS is a crucial part of CERN’s safety organisation. Practising how to cope with emergencies in their own premises is therefore of high importance,” explained Gunnar Lindell, Departmental Safety Officer for HSE.
Simulated smoke emanating from the CFRS kitchen as part of the CFRS evacuation simulation. (Image: CERN)Kept secret from most participants, the scenario involved simulated smoke in the upstairs kitchen. During the drill, firefighters had to perform tasks they usually supervise rather than execute themselves, such as sounding the alarm and proceeding to the assembly point. The Safety Control Room (SCR) was evacuated in under two minutes, and operational again within ten, with functions transferred to the CERN Control Centre in Prévessin. During the transition, calls were seamlessly taken over the phone, ensuring continuity of operations throughout.
The result was a valuable set of lessons learned about the CFRS’s own safety and resilience. “We’re used to giving instructions and guiding others out of buildings. This time, we had to follow the same steps ourselves, and it made us realise just how important clear procedures and training really are,” said drill coordinator Adrian Pedrosa, CFRS Territorial Safety Officer (TSO).
Fire Officer Sara Hansen, co-organiser of the drill, was impressed with the reactivity of the participants and the outcome of the exercise. She noted: “This complex evacuation has taken months to prepare and has stimulated deep reflection when it comes to the CFRS’s own safety and prevention work.” For the three teams not on shift that day, a scheduled tabletop exercise will ensure the entire CFRS benefits from this drill and contributes to lessons learned.
Are you prepared for an emergency in your building? Make sure you know your escape routes and assembly points. The CERN Roles page can also help you find out which TSOs and emergency guides are there to help you in such a situation. Stay safe!
ehatters Wed, 10/15/2025 - 12:14 Byline HSE unit Publication Date Wed, 10/15/2025 - 12:02CERN staff responsible for managing budgets and/or contracts can now use a single-entry point for all their reporting needs. The CERN Expenditure Tracking (CET) tool has been upgraded to help facilitate the introduction of Power BI – Microsoft’s business analytics platform – into Finance and Procurement (FP) reporting. CET now serves as a portal and provides access to three new Power BI reports:
These reports deliver enhanced data visualisation and will gradually replace existing CET reports in the future.
Semantic modelsTwo semantic models (Budget Follow-Up and Contract Follow-Up) are available for advanced users who wish to create custom analyses in Power BI.
Please note that access to Power BI reports and semantic models depends on your user profile (see Licensing and Access to Power BI Artifacts). If you require access to an item that is not currently available to you, you can request it via ServiceNow.
The new reports can help you analyse and visualise trends in budgets and contracts. (Image: CERN) Useful documentationTo support users, CET provides direct links to the “Finance and Procurement Computing Documentation” Confluence space, which includes:
We encourage all users to complete the Foundations and Intermediate Power BI training courses offered at CERN to become familiar with the tool and make the most of the reports and semantic models.
ehatters Tue, 10/14/2025 - 18:10 Byline FAP department Publication Date Tue, 10/14/2025 - 18:10As manufacturing of the components for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) reaches its final stages, installation activities are gaining pace. Six impressive compression units have just been delivered by Linde Kryotechnik and installed in the new HL-LHC buildings adjoining the surface sites of the ATLAS and CMS experiments, at points 1 and 5 of the LHC. These compressors, mounted on casings known as “compressor skids”, were assembled by Enerproject in Mezzovico in the Swiss canton of Ticino, before being delivered to CERN. These are key components of the cryogenics system that will cool the new HL-LHC installations.
To achieve a high level of luminosity, new, more powerful focusing magnets will be installed on either side of the ATLAS and CMS experiments. Therefore, increased cryogenic power is needed. This means that two new cryogenic refrigerators must be installed in addition to the eight current refrigerators that serve the LHC today. These systems produce superfluid helium at 1.9 K (-271°C) from helium gas at room temperature. They are made up of refrigerators located on the surface, with cold compressors located at the level of the LHC tunnel and cryogenic lines which transport the helium from the surface to the underground galleries, then around the entire accelerator.
Like the fridge in your kitchen, the LHC refrigeration systems include a compressor and a cold box which houses the heat exchangers and the expansion turbines – but these refrigerators are much larger, taking up several buildings. They are equipped with compressors which compress the helium to 20 bar, and a cold box which lowers the temperature and the pressure of the helium to 4.5 K (-269°C) and 3 bar. The cold boxes, which will complete the surface installations at points 1 and 5, should be delivered at the end of the year.
Lowering of the tubes that will supply helium to the new HL-LHC galleries. (Image: CERN)In parallel, the large tubes for the cryogenic distribution line (QXL) are being lowered into the new underground galleries of the future accelerator. The objective is to install the sections in the service galleries as of today, and then to complete the installation in the LHC tunnel during the third long shutdown (LS3).
Major cryogenics operations began last year with the delivery of four large helium tanks to supply the new refrigerators that are currently being installed.
cmenard Wed, 10/15/2025 - 17:42 Byline Corinne Pralavorio Publication Date Thu, 10/16/2025 - 10:00
In March 2024, the CERN Research Board gave the go-ahead for the BDF project, a beam dump installation acting as a high-intensity fixed target. Supplied with proton beams by the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), the BDF will be located in the North Area and is scheduled to begin operation in 2031.
The BDF target will be 1.5 metres thick and will be capable of absorbing all the energy of the SPS beam, making it more like a beam dump than a traditional fixed target. Among the cascades of particles it will produce, scientists hope to discover some from the “hidden sector” – particles that interact so weakly with ordinary matter that they have not been detected yet.
Far more sophisticated than the existing targets, the BDF will be surrounded by a shield of around 1 350 tonnes (180 m3) of cast iron and 1 000 tonnes (400 m3) of concrete and marble.
Which brings us to your blocks of cast iron*.
1 350 tonnes of cast iron, calculated by cost per cubic metre, means a cost of over 4 MCHF. “The team in charge of the project therefore immediately came up with the idea of recycling CERN’s old blocks of cast iron, in particular those of the PS neutrino project TT7, which have remained buried and unused since the 1980s,” explains François Butin, who is responsible for supplying the shielding for the BDF. “We’re talking about 750 tonnes of cast iron – that’s 263 blocks, totalling a volume of 100 m3.”
But they still needed to be recovered, and extracting blocks of cast iron, each weighing up to 7.5 tonnes and buried around 10 metres underground, is no mean feat. “These blocks were located below the hill that runs along Route Oppenheimer. To reach them, we first had to demolish the hill, then start excavating,” Butin continues. Having established their location, the technicians dug all the way around them to create a retaining wall before beginning the extraction of the 263 blocks they were hoping to find. “The work was long and arduous, and not without surprises... of the 750 tonnes of cast iron we had expected to find, we eventually recovered 600, saving us a total of 2.1 MCHF! As for the missing 150 tonnes – for now, they remain an unsolved mystery...”
A total of 143 blocks from the original shielding of the PS TT7 neutrino experiment, each weighing between 1 and 7.5 tonnes, were extracted from the pit in which they had lain for more than forty years. (Image: CERN)
Other unused shielding blocks made of cast iron and concrete will also be collected elsewhere at CERN, including from the TCC2 area of the North Area. In total, it should be possible to recover 1 100 tonnes of cast iron and 850 tonnes of concrete. All in all, an excellent recycling operation!
*We’re joking really, but this is CERN after all – so if you do have any blocks of cast iron or concrete to recycle, don’t hesitate to contact us...
anschaef Tue, 10/14/2025 - 13:12 Byline Anaïs Schaeffer Publication Date Thu, 10/16/2025 - 08:06In the ancient past (20 years ago), control systems used to be stand-alone systems, usually decoupled from the larger enterprise networks, using their own network cabling infrastructures (based on a variety of proprietary buses and protocols) and programming languages dedicated to control systems. But no more.
With the rise of “standard” IT technologies, interconnectivity and IT services also made it down to the plant floor. Early tests at CERN and elsewhere, however, showed that, with this rapprochement, control systems also inherited the genuine, inherent flaws, weaknesses and vulnerabilities of those IT technologies. But contrary to IT, control systems cannot be fixed and patched as quickly as IT systems. Maintenance cycles need to be respected, certifications need to be reissued, controls loops need to be revalidated.
Even so, more and more control system manufacturers integrated “IT” means into their products, despite the fact that their expertise lies in controls and not IT. Their brilliance lies in sophisticated (and technologically “beautiful”) data acquisition hardware, extremely accurate measurement devices like oscilloscopes, precise timing systems, etc. IT is not usually their turf. Similarly, and unsurprisingly, control system experts and operators centre their knowledge, skills and expertise on control systems. They are not necessarily network experts, web server managers, software programmers or database administrators. Still, both vendors/manufacturers and experts/operators embraced the benefits of IT without considering risks and mitigation measures.
The series of, so far, nine Control System Cybersecurity workshops attached and prior to the International Conference on Accelerator and Large Experimental Physics Control Systems (ICALEPCS) is supposed to raise awareness among the control system community and bring them together with cybersecurity experts in order to holistically and in-detail improve the cybersecurity of the control systems of accelerators and (large) experiments. While many accelerator labs and experiments have started to adopt standard cybersecurity protections, OT (operational technology) environments and their complex implementation and deployment requirements and timelines make it significantly more difficult to thoroughly adapt OT/control systems to achieve a more secure architecture and operation.
Nothing has changed?Fast-forward 20 years and the control system world has not changed much in terms of complexity, timelines and security. In fact, control systems have become even more complex and interconnected, creating even more cross-dependencies and making the deployment of security measures even harder. In parallel, hardware manufacturers and vendors have now entirely embraced IT.
Recent penetration tests by the CERN Computer Security team of a plethora of control systems, embedded devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) have repeatedly brought to light basic areas of security sub-optimalisms:
But does that really matter? What is the real risk? Are criminals and thugs interested in breaking into control systems? Or are security incidents linked to control systems the literal “black swans” – rarely appearing and more hyped than real? And if not, how often do those black swans appear? Let’s delve into that in the next Bulletin…
This is an abridged version of an article that first appeared in the proceedings of the ICALEPCS 2025 conference.
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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 Tue, 10/14/2025 - 12:53 Byline Computer Security Office Publication Date Thu, 10/16/2025 - 08:49CERN extends its congratulations to the eight apprentices who have received their certificat fédéral de capacité (CFC diploma) this year: seven as technicians and one as library assistant.
This year’s graduates include two electronics technicians, Diogo Filipe Goncalves Esteves and Théo Zoller; three physics laboratory technicians, Axel Gyger, Estelle Senbati-Fagi and Yanis Samuel Rabetsimialona; and two polytechnicians, Alexandre Buehlmann and Paul Messerli. They have all been in training at CERN for four years, with the exception of Estelle Senbati-Fagi, who completed her apprenticeship in three years.
Two apprentices who stood out in particular were Estelle Senbati-Fagi and Paul Messerli, who received the Union industrielle genevoise (UIG) prize, awarded every year in the field of industrial mechatronics. Paul Messerli is also the first polytechnician at CERN to receive this award.
Presentation of the UIG prize to Estelle Senbati Fagi and Paul Messerli, in the presence of State Councillor Delphine Bachmann (Department of economic affairs and employment of the Canton of Geneva). (Image : UIG)Introduced in 2019, the polymechanics apprenticeship now complements the existing pathways of electronics and laboratory physics. It demonstrates CERN’s commitment to providing a learning environment of excellence for young people, combining scientific rigour with technical expertise. More than 330 students have passed through the technical apprentice programme – CERN’s oldest professional training programme – since it began in 1966. The programme was launched by the Geneva authorities, which were keen to start a collaboration with CERN.
Since 1999, in addition to technical apprentices, the programme has included library apprentices. At CERN, 30 young people have received their diploma in this field since the programme was launched. The most recent graduate, Cécilia Flury, received her CFC in 2025 after three years of training.
Laetitia Dufay-Chanat (TE-RAS-APP) is responsible for coordinating technical apprenticeships, while Salomé Rohr (RCS-SIS-LB) is responsible for the library apprentice programme.
The team in charge of the apprentice programme at CERN warmly thanks all of the groups hosting apprentices and, in particular, the supervisors and trainers, for the quality of their management and the constant support given to the apprentices throughout their journey. Without this commitment, the programme would not be possible.
A trophy for education Team Physical (Cağaloğlu Anadolu Lisesi, Türkiye), one of the five winners of the Beamline for Schools (BL4S) prize, posing with the trophy developed by apprentice Paul Messerli. (Image : CERN)At the end of their three or four years of training, the apprentices complete a travail pratique individuel (TPI): a final practical exam which is a key step in the qualification process in Switzerland. Keen for his project to be useful to Organization, Paul Messerli had the idea of designing a trophy for one of the competitions organised by CERN. The apprentice in polymechanics created a trophy for the Beamline for Schools (BL4S) competition – another of CERN’s flagship educational programmes. Paul, who was responsible for construction, worked alongside Markus Joos, CERN’s technical coordinator for BL4S and Fabienne Landua, head of the graphic design service. The trophy incorporates the logo for the competition, engraved in metal, and a piece of superconducting cable – a symbol of the technology used at CERN – on a base made of wood, metal and epoxy resin. This trophy was awarded to the five winning teams of 2025 during the time they spent at CERN, at DESY and at the University of Bonn (ELSA accelerator), where they carried out their accelerator-based experiments. “It’s excellent work, and it’s a real benefit for the winning schools to have a memento of the experience they can keep on display,” concludes Jorge Andrés Villa Vélez, leader of the BL4S project and of CERN’s high-school student programmes.
anschaef Thu, 10/16/2025 - 11:02 Publication Date Tue, 10/14/2025 - 12:07
The electronic voting process for the Senior Staff Consultative Committee (known as “the Nine”) closed at midnight on Sunday, 31 August 2025. A second ballot was closed at midnight on Tuesday, 9 September, to resolve the tie between two candidates.
The Senior Staff Consultative Committee was created in 1981 to serve as a channel of communication between the senior staff (grade 8 and above) and the Director-General. It is made up of nine members elected by the senior staff for a period of three years. The Nine share the ideas and feedback of the senior staff with the Director-General and offer advice on questions concerning scientific activities, organisational matters and use of resources. Elections for the Nine are held every year, ensuring an annual rotation of members.
In August and September 2025, out of the 542 senior staff members eligible to vote, 342 voted in the first round and 283 in the second. The participation in the vote was remarkably high.
Candidates stood for election for Electoral Group 1 (research physicists and applied physicists in the EP or TH departments), Electoral Group 2 (members of IT, RCS, SCE, HSE, ATS, EP and TH, excluding those with the following benchmark jobs: applied physicist, principal applied physicist, research physicist, theoretical physicist, principal research physicist and principal theoretical physicist) and Electoral Group 3 (members of DG, FAP, HR, IPT, IR and PF).
The terms of office of Maria Elena Angoletta, Clara Gaspar, Emma Sanders and Christoph Schwick will run from September 2025 to August 2028, replacing the outgoing members Marzia Bernardini, Markus Brugger, Cécile Curdy and Niko Neufeld.
Giovanna Vandoni has been appointed as the new spokesperson for one year, starting in September 2025. The Nine now consists of the four newly elected members together with [end of term of office shown in brackets]:
We wish to congratulate the newly elected members and warmly thank all the other candidates. Special thanks also go to our polling officers, Alberto Pace, Christoph Rembser and Christophe Delamare.
Markus Brugger and Giovanna Vandoni
outgoing and incoming spokespersons of the Nine
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The Nine seeks input for topics to be investigated throughout the year, so we encourage you to get in touch, either by sending an email to the-nine@cern.ch or by contacting one of our members. In 2025–2026, we meet every Tuesday from 12.15 to 13.45. You are welcome to attend the first 15–20 minutes of our meeting to present your topic in person – please contact us to know the venue. Details of previous topics are available on the Nine webpage. We plan to organise visits to different CERN departments to engage in discussions with senior staff; we therefore invite all interested senior staff colleagues to contact one of us, either in person or by phone/email, for more information or to schedule a visit.
anschaef Mon, 10/13/2025 - 12:51 Publication Date Tue, 10/14/2025 - 11:48TIME announced this week that CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the 25 inventions that will be inducted into the TIME Best Inventions Hall of Fame. Every year, TIME hunts down the most exciting innovations to produce their annual list of the Best Inventions. To mark the list’s 25th anniversary, they have narrowed down the previous Best Inventions to the 25 most iconic and impactful. These groundbreaking inventions were each chosen for their originality, ambition and impact.
The LHC began operating in 2008 as the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator and was included in TIME’s list of Best Inventions for that year. Countless innovations and inventions were required for this ambitious project to become a reality. When the idea for the LHC began forming in the early 1980s, many technologies, such as superconducting magnets, ultrahigh vacuums and cryogenics, needed major advancements to support an accelerator of this scale. As it pushes the frontiers of scientific research, the LHC requires and inspires innovation. This has been made possible thanks to the huge international collaboration of scientists, engineers and technicians from over 110 countries.
Since beginning operations, the LHC observed the highly sought-after Higgs boson in 2012 and has discovered a bestiary of exotic hadrons. Today, it continues to probe ever deeper into our understanding of the building blocks of our Universe, known as the Standard Model. It is for this long-lasting impact and the nearly two decades of fundamental research that TIME has recognised the LHC as one of the greatest inventions this century.
Find out more about the LHC
roryalex Fri, 10/10/2025 - 11:53 Byline Rory Harris Publication Date Fri, 10/10/2025 - 12:49Marking a major step in shaping the future of particle physics, the Physics Briefing Book for the 2026 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP) was released on 2 October. The document synthesises all the current input for the community-driven ESPP process and provides the foundation, alongside the final national input and an assessment of large accelerator projects by a dedicated working group, for the European Strategy Group (ESG) to formulate its recommendations in December.
The ESPP 2026 update, which was launched by the CERN Council in March 2024, called upon the particle physics community to develop a visionary and concrete plan that greatly advances knowledge in fundamental physics through the realisation of the next flagship project at CERN. A total of 266 written submissions, ranging from individual to national perspectives, were received. These formed the basis of rich discussions at an Open Symposium held in Venice from 23 to 27 June 2025, which brought together more than 600 physicists from almost 40 countries.
More than 600 physicists attended the Open Symposium in Venice from 23 to 27 June to debate the future of European particle physics. (Image: INFN)The Briefing Book, compiled by experts in the Physics Preparatory Group (PPG), distils these discussions and all the community input received so far into a single document that has been handed to the ESG. The document does not prescribe a single path forward but evaluates the scientific potential of different facilities and experiments. Following the recommendations of the ESPP 2020 update, it prioritises the need for an electron–positron collider dedicated to precision Higgs boson studies and, in the longer term, an energy-frontier collider.
Arranged in 12 chapters, the Briefing Book summarises the outstanding questions across the various physics areas, together with a discussion of the potential of the different proposed colliders and other experiments to address them. The differences in the physics potential between the various collider options, along with the technical readiness, risks, timescales and costs, will be reviewed to enable the ESG to produce its final recommendations. Crucially, the CERN Council requested that the community indicate not only the scientifically most attractive option, but also alternative options to be pursued if the chosen preferred plan turns out not to be feasible or competitive.
“We wish to deeply thank the co-conveners, scientific secretaries and all members of the PPG working groups for their hard work and dedication in summarising the main messages from the many strategy input submissions and the discussions at the Open Symposium in this book,” says Karl Jakobs, Strategy Secretary, University of Freiburg. “As we have seen from the input so far, the ESSP 2026 update has revealed a vibrant scientific landscape across high-energy physics and a community united in its desire for a future flagship collider at CERN.”
The next step towards updating the ESPP is the submission of the final national input, with a deadline of 14 November. The ESG project-assessment working group will release its findings on 17 October such that they can be taken into account. The final drafting session of the Strategy update will then take place from 1 to 5 December at Monte Verità Ascona, Switzerland, where the community recommendations will be finalised. These will be presented to the CERN Council in March 2026 and discussed at a dedicated meeting of the CERN Council in May 2026 in Budapest.
Further information:
European Strategy update: the community speaks
https://cerncourier.com/european-strategy-update-the-community-speaks/
Europe’s collider strategy takes shape
https://cerncourier.com/a/europes-collider-strategy-takes-shape/
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