CERN:
Although the Large Hadron Collider has only been operating for
a few months, CERN is preparing to significantly upgrade the
infrastructure around 2020. After the upgrade, the LHC's
luminosity will be increased to 5–10 times its current
design value. “With the LHC colliding hundreds of
millions of particles each second, some of the processes
we’re interested in will happen just a few times a
day,” said CERN research director Sergio Bertolucci.
“With processes so rare, extra luminosity makes a big
difference to our ability to make precision measurements and
discover new things.”Upgrading the LHC will require new
superconducting technologies in a wide range of fields,
including high-field magnets, radiofrequency cavities, and
electrical transfer lines. CERN launched the first design phase
of this upgrade at a European Commission–sponsored
workshop that brought together scientists from 14 European
institutions, the Japanese-led KEK collaboration, and the US
LHC Accelerator Research Program.
