Get Ready for September 10th: CERN Announces LHC Switch-On

[Kantila]

It's official, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will begin operations
in a little over a month. On September 10th, the most sophisticated
particle accelerator will go online, injecting the first circulation
of accelerated particles. Actual experiments involving collisions will
occur once scientists are satisfied the LHC is fully optimized and
calibration is complete. The LHC has been undergoing "cool-down" for
some time, ensuring the LHC's eight sectors are approaching the 1.9K
(-271°C) operational temperature (that is 1.9 degrees above absolute
zero). All going well, on September 10th, the first beam will be
accelerated to an energy of 450 GeV (0.45 TeV), the preliminary step
on the path to attaining particle energies of 5 TeV, a record breaking
target… awesome.

Earlier today, CERN announced that the LHC will be ready by September
10th to attempt to circulate a beam of particles. This news comes as
the "cool-down" phase of LHC commissioning reaches a successful
conclusion, cooling all eight sectors to 1.9 degrees above absolute
zero. To manage temperatures this extreme has been a long and
painstaking task, referred to as a "marathon" by the project leader:

"We're finishing a marathon with a sprint. It's been a long haul,
and we're all eager to get the LHC research programme underway." - LHC
project leader Lyn Evans.

Now scientists and engineers must synchronize the LHC with the Super
Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator, which is the last component in
the LHC's particle injector chain. For the system to work, the LHC and
SPS must be synchronized to within a fraction of a nanosecond. This
task is expected to begin on August 9th (Saturday). These calibration
tasks are expected to continue through August and into the beginning
of September, preparing the LHC for its first particle injection on
the 10th.

The LHC will accelerate particles to relativistic velocities,
accessing energies previously unimaginable. Once the LHC reaches its
optimum design specification (possibly by 2010), it will generate
beams seven-times more energetic and 30-times more intense than any
other particle accelerator on the planet. The accelerator ring lies
below the Swiss countryside with a circumference of 27 km (17 miles).