Large hadron collider

2023: Tomsk Polytechnic has developed a special system for the Large Hadron Collider

Scientists at Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) have developed a special system for the Large Hadron Collider. The development allows you to automatically move the detector with high accuracy, the press service of the university said in December 2023.

We are talking about creating a system for bringing the detector into a closed position for the UT tracker in an experiment with LHCb (one of the four main detectors at the Large Hadron Collider), which uses two trackers. They are necessary to detect the trajectory of certain particles after a collision.

TPU scientists have developed a detector feed system for the tracker at the Large Hadron Collider

According to Gennady Panshin, a research participant, senior lecturer at the Department of Automation and Robotics of TPU, the university previously participated in the design of an improved detector. Now it will be very close to the bundle tube, there particles fly in two directions. This pipe is made of very thin beryllium, and, therefore, it is fragile to mechanical influences, he said.

The mechanism that we have developed allows you to move the detector the last 25 centimeters to the beam: it allows you to put the detector in the right position very smoothly and with an accuracy of 10 microns. Previously, this process was carried out manually, while our system fully automated it, "Panshin explained.

He clarified that the difficulty in making the system was that scientists could not use magnetic steels. This is due to the close proximity to the dipole magnet.

By the end of December 2023, the system developed by scientists of the Tomsk Polytechnic is being installed and carried out commissioning. In February 2024, the detector will be closed, and it will work in stationary mode, the university said.^[1]

2022: Collider stop

On November 28, 2022, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the world's largest laboratory of high-energy physics, stopped the work of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

This happened about two weeks ahead of schedule. The reason is the need to save electricity. The decision to suspend the accelerator was made in early October 2022. Then CERN said that the work of the complex would be reduced by 20% in 2023.

Large hadron collider

The charged particle accelerator on the counter beams of the LHC consumes approximately a third of the energy of Geneva's consumption. This complex receives power from the French power plant. EDF This company is trying to solve corrosion problems at its nuclear power plants. In an interview with radio Sputnik , candidate of technical sciences, popularizer of science Dmitry Zykov said that the collider consumes electricity as a medium-sized city.

The hadron collider is a rather energy-intensive structure, and when they first started designing it, there was already an energy problem, because it consumes electricity like a medium-sized city. Of course, now in Europe its operation is becoming extremely expensive, requires many times more money than the budget for the work of this unique research facility, - said Dmitry Zykov.

It is said that the suspension of the accelerator will lead to difficulties in implementing a number of serious research programs. The fact is that many scientific projects that need the resources of the LHC require continuous work of the collider. In such a situation, the implementation of research is simply impossible. Experts hope that the complex will be able to launch at full capacity, despite energy problems.^[2]

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