Large Hadron Collider delayed again
Summary
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LHC operations were suspended last September after a transformer malfunction in its cooling system allowed a helium leak — just nine days after the project became operational. An investigation concluded that the malfunction was caused by a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator's magnets.
As a result, the 53 magnets used to accelerate sub-atomic particles around the machine's 17-mile underground tunnel had to be cleaned or repaired. At the time, the repair costs for the LHC were expected to be as much as $16.4 million (£11 million).
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or Cern, the organization that built the LHC, announced on Monday that it expects the first beams to begin in September, with the first collisions expected by late October.
The delay is the latest in a string of restart dates Cern has announced. Cern had originally expected to have the LHC back online at the beginning of April, following Cern's annual maintenance period. But that target was revised last November to June. Later that month, Cern's head of communications, James Gillies, told ZDNet UK that the new plan was to restart the LHC in late summer.
"The schedule we have now is without a doubt the best for the LHC and for the physicists waiting for data," Cern director general Rolf Heuer said in a statement. "It is cautious, ensuring that all the necessary work is done on the LHC before we start up, yet it allows physics research to begin this year."
The LHC, located along the French-Swiss border, is designed to smash beams of protons into each other, test fundamental physics theories, and help understand the nature of matter.
Talkback Most Recent of 6 Talkback(s)
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re: Large Hadron Collider delayed again
Darn it... Now the end of the world will have to wait a bit longer.
Badgered10th Feb 2009 -
re: Large Hadron Collider delayed again
Yeah, I was kinda wondering why we were all still around.
finwizard211th Feb 2009 -
RE: Large Hadron Collider delayed again
Well I guess the Higgs boson existence proof will have to wait.
JMGM10th Feb 2009 -
Higgs Boson
When I was a kid, I caught a Higgs boson in a jar. Later on, my sister opened the jar and let it out (the particle was very small, so she thought the jar was empty). In any case, the Higgs particle is very shy.
WiredGuy10th Feb 2009 -
Personally...
I prefer Higgs bosoms.
doodlius10th Feb 2009 -
Spiritusindomit@...11th Feb 2009
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
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