It’s that moment when you realize something serious and exciting has happened, but it’s 5:45am and you have to wake somebody up to sort it out. As the LHC ramps up it’s my role to make sure that the trigger is ready. This means looking at the bunch structure in the LHC and checking that ATLAS knows what this structure looks like. It’s as simple as pressing a few buttons and updating a database, and if everything goes smoothly we have nothing to worry about.
This time it was a bit different, because the LHC used a bunch structure they had never used before. When I pressed the button I was actually telling ATLAS something new and witnessing one of those rare transitions in the normal running of the LHC! (Jim’s post gives a great explanation about what bunch structures are and how the LHC team design them.) Then I checked the instructions, and they told me I had to wake someone up and tell them about the change. Nobody likes to be woken up at 5:45am, especially if they have an important meeting the next day. To make matters worse, I know the guy on the other end of the line (although since he’s so sleepy I didn’t recognize his voice at first!) At that point I remembered what my flat mate had told me when he was on call and got woken up at night. He said “What we do would be easy if they just gave us two minutes to think about it. We need time to wake up!” So, feeling bad about waking up the expert I told him I’d call back in 5 minutes. There was a flurry of messages on the electronic logbook and short conversations in the Control Room, and then it was time to call again. This time the voice on the other end of the line was more alert and a bit happier! He said everything was fine. I could proceed as normal and as long as there are no serious problems we can take data as we usually do.
We have beams!
The LHC just declared stable beams. Now the fun begins…
Tags: ATLAS, control room, shift
