Status of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

Abstract

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), due to be commissioned in 2007, will provide particle physics with the first laboratory tool to access the energy frontier above 1 TeV. In order to achieve this, protons must be accelerated and stored at 7 TeV, colliding with an unprecedented luminosity of 10³⁴ cm ^{– 2} s ^{– 1} The 8.3 Tesla guide field is obtained using conventional NbTi technology cooled to below the lambda point of helium. The machine is now well into its installation phase, with first beam injection foreseen for spring 2007. A brief status report is given and future prospects are discussed.

Index Terms: accelerators, cryogenics, superconductors.