The new LINAC 4 linear accelerator was formally commissioned at CERN.
In a ceremony conducted in Switzerland on May 9, the new LINAC 4 linear accelerator was formally commissioned at CERN. This new device is but the first step in a number of upgrades coming for the 17-mile collider. Many more changes are going to be made over the coming years. Still, this first one is the key to boosting its power by a factor of five.
Linac 4, A New Light at CERN
LINAC 4 is designed to inject high energy beams directly into the accelerator complex. The plan is to have it up and running by 2021 and at full power by 2025. It will be hooked up to the greater track during the expected shutdown from 2019 to 2021.
“This high-luminosity phase will considerably increase the potential of the LHC experiments for discovering new physics and measuring the properties of the Higgs particle in more detail,” said Director General, Fabiola Gianotti, in a press release about the ceremony.
He continued by pointing out that Linac 4 “is a modern injector” It may also be the first key in the facility’s ambitious plan to upgrade its program. This should help lead “up to the High-Luminosity LHC.”
The Higgs boson is probably the most famous discovery made at CERN. This previously-theorized particle had eluded scientists for years. Now, this new machine will help them peer further into that particle’s nature. Many believe it will be capable of helping provide more than ten times the data currently collected.
This linear accelerator is about ninety meters long, and it was built gradually over the last decade. It is replacing the LINAC 2, which is approaching the age of forty.
A $93 million investment was made in the construction, and the negative hydrogen ions it will inject into the accelerator will triple the power level to over 160 million electronvolts. By the time it is in full operation, they hope to take it to over a quarter billion.
Image Source: Wikimedia
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Christopher Hall completed his studies at the California Institute of Technology, Caltech, with a degree in Engineering and Applied Science. That was three years ago. At present he is working as a Computation and Neural Systems engineer in Ontario. He used to write tech reviews and overviews for several small online publications before he joined the ArgyllFreePress team. Christopher is always scouring the internet for fresh tech news and anything related to gadgets, smart-phones, tablets and laptops.
