Today's issue of the CERN Bulletin reports more progress in readying the LHC for restart. Six of the Large Hadron Collider's eight sectors are now at operating temperature (1.9 K), and current is flowing in three sectors' superconducting magnets. The whole LHC is predicted to be at operating temperatures in two weeks.
The chain of accelerators that leads up to the LHC is ready and performing well, as demonstrated by tests carried out last weekend. Particles were extracted from the SPS, the last accelerator before the LHC, and injected into the transfer lines that link the SPS and LHC. Lead ions have also been accelerated up to the entrance of the LHC for the first time.
Also in this issue of the Bulletin, updates on the status of the four major LHC experiments: ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb; visits to the LHC by Steven Hawking and author Bill Bryson; and the results of an impromptu survey on CERN and the LHC in the laboratory's local community.
