Low energy proton beams will be injected into the LHC for the first time on
the 10th September 2008.
This major milestone in the LHC project will be covered live by
international broadcasters. UK media organisations will be at CERN and at
a simultaneous media event in London.
BBC Radio 4 will devote a day of programming to the LHC, including covering
first injection of beams live on the Today programme. See the BBC website for programming,
background etc.
In the weeks preceeding the start up, this web page and the CERN
and STFC websites will carry information
on the plans for coverage of the event.
Dr Tara Shears talks about some of the scientific questions that the LHC
project will help us answer, on the
www.labreporter.com website.
You can try your hand at running the LHC and interpreting collisions on our simulator at
www.particledetectives.net.
Proton beams have already been injected into the first metres of the LHC, to
test the injection process (more...),
but the first attempt to circulate beams all the way around the LHC will be on
the official start up day. If everything proceeds according to plan the beam
will circulate all the way around the 27 km long LHC. Over the following months
the LHC scientists and engineers will commission the LHC, running beams at
higher energy with the intention of beginning collisions, using relatively low
energy (5TeV) beams, towards the end of 2008.
The extensive preparations for the start of LHC experiments have included
exhaustive safety assessments, including the potential risk of creating new
particles, black holes etc.
