It is 5.50pm and completely dark in Amsterdam.
But not to worry: this weekend the first protons have made their first small journey through the LHC. They were injected close to ATLAS, and traveled in the counter-clockwise direction through the ALICE experiment. According to the CERN website: “All settings and parameters showed a perfect functioning of the machine, which is preparing for its first circulating beam in the coming weeks.” This is something to look forward to!
According to Physics Today there is more to come: “The LHC will operate at 450 GeV per beam when the machine becomes operational on 23 November, and eventually ramp up to 1.1 TeV per beam in December.” Today nothing seemed to work, me inclusive. But I will go home shortly and give my horse an extra hug. The LHC will run!
