Friday 30 March 2007

Problems, problems

Geneva is gloomy today and the mood at CERN is considerably worse. Conversations circle around yesterday's accident during the LHC magnet testing. The story is described in this press release. The only positive thing in it is that it is the Fermilab who is to blame ;-| The consequences for the LHC schedule are not yet known, but everybody fears delays. I swear i meant a joke at the time i was writing my previous post...

Update: Fermilab issued an update on the inner-triplet magnet problem at the LHC. It seems that the mood is improving. They say: The immediate goal is to have a repaired triplet in another sector of the accelerator ready to participate in a pressure test scheduled for June 1. The new schedule will be announced in a review, which is due in the end of April. In the meantime, we can enjoy the photo posted at Cosmic Variance. It does not look so disastrous, after all ;-)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whats the vibe like from around those parts. Do they expect long or shortish delays? I tend to get the feeling its the former ;/

An engineering problem and recall smells like a few months issue, so lets hope for a quick fix.

Anonymous said...

Why is it positive that Fermilab is to blame? There is already conflict between the European and American institutions at CERN. Comments like that act as a catalyst whether they are intended humorous or not. I am sure those at Fermilab involved with the project are having a hard enough time with this as it is. There is no need to throw salt on wounds.

Jester said...

TomS, you're of course right, there's nothing positive in it. As a Jester, i feel like joking even when there's nothing to laugh about.

myth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
myth said...

Today I found a mysterious relationship which implies the Higgs mass is 154 GeV. Maybe it is just a joke. But I hope not. :)

On the other hand, I heard that if the Higgs mass is about 150 GeV there may be evidence in the 2008 data. Is it true?