SIF Fermi Prize for decisive contribution to LHC discoveries
The 2013 Enrico Fermi Prize of the Italian Physical Society [SIF] has been awarded to Pierluigi Campana (INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati), Simone Giani (CERN), Fabiola Gianotti (CERN), Paolo Giubellino (INFN Torino) and Guido Tonelli (Università di Pisa and INFN Pisa), “for the outstanding results that the five large international collaboration experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider [LHC] – LHCb, TOTEM, ATLAS, ALICE, CMS – have achieved during the first period of LHC data taking under the successful guidance of the…
ATLAS and CMS awarded for the discovery of a Higgs boson
In July 2012, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations announced the discovery of a new heavy particle at a mass around 125 GeV. Its properties were strikingly similar to those of a Higgs boson, a long-sought particle expected from the mechanism for electroweak symmetry breaking that was introduced almost 50 years ago by Robert Brout, François Englert and Peter Higgs.
Experimental confirmation of the Higgs boson presented monumental challenges because of its relatively large…
Lead ions and protons colliding for first time in LHC
The LHC saw its first collisions of lead ions with protons on 13 September. The largest experiments – ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb – all recorded lead ion-proton collisions in this test, which precedes the main run planned for January-February next year.
For more information, please visit the CERN website.
The long-awaited discovery – an interview with Guido Tonelli
On 4 July this year – following the announcement of the new particle discovery from CERN – European Physical Society president Luisa Cifarelli interviewed Guido Tonelli, former spokesperson of CERN’s CMS Collaboration.
Hello, Guido.
With respect to today’s exciting announcement, how are you feeling?
It is very difficult for me to describe today’s emotions. For people that have been searching…
Higgs? CERN sees new particle consistent with elusive boson
CERN’s ATLAS and CMS experiments have observed a new particle – consistent with the elusive Higgs boson – in the mass region around 125-126 GeV/c2, it was announced during a seminar at the Swiss-based laboratory on 4 July.
“The five sigma signal – at around 125 GeV – we’re seeing is dramatic. This is indeed a new particle. We know it must be a boson and it’s the heaviest boson ever found,” said CMS experiment spokesperson Joe Incandela. “The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this reason that we must be extremely diligent in all of our studies…
LHC delivers collisions at record energy
After a three-month winter maintenance stop, the Large Hadron Collider [LHC] at CERN has resumed operation, with beams, on 14 March. Two days later, low intensity beams were accelerated to 4 TeV for the first time, achieving a new world record.
During the preceding month, all machine components – including almost 2,000 superconducting magnet circuits – were tested for operation at currents which allow these accelerating beams of up to 4 TeV…
Students “hangout” with CMS physicists on Google+
The Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the LHC [CMS] recently organised two virtual visits to the CMS experimental cavern, around 100 meters underground, using the Google+ Hangouts platform. Schools, universities and interested members of the public were invited to remotely connect with physicists in front of the CMS detector and in the above-ground control room, to talk about the detector, the LHC, and the physics goals of the collaboration.
Google+ Hangouts, a feature of the new social network, are multi-user video calls with up to ten participants…
Serbia to be CERN Associate Member
The CERN Council unanimously voted to admit the Republic of Serbia as an Associate Member State of CERN, during their 161st council meeting, on 16 December last year. The final step in this process will involve the signature of the related agreement, and ratification by the Serbian Parliament. Following a five year maximum period of Associate Membership, the council will decide on the admission of Serbia to full membership.
“It’s a pleasure to welcome Serbia back into the family,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer…
