As we speak there are 25 bunches of protons in both proton beams in the LHC. See all those steps in the graph (red and blue lines)? Each little step is one bunch being added, and each “big” step is 4 bunches being added. So if you count the steps yourself you should get a total bunch count of 25 in each beam. The red and blue lines correspond to the left-hand y-axis showing “Intensity”.
The energy of the proton beams is in black and goes with the right-hand y-axis, “Energy (GeV)”. As I write this the protons are around 500-some GeV and being ramped up to 3500 GeV which should take about half an hour.
Once both beams are at 3500 GeV and they declare stable beams, it’s time to record some data with the most bunches in the LHC to date!
