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The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is set to remain the most powerful accelerator in the world for at least two decades. But beyond the run in 2019–2021, halving the statistical error in the measurements will require more than 10 years of running – unless the nominal luminosity is increased by a considerable amount. To maintain scientific progress and exploit its full capacity, the LHC needs a major upgrade after 2020. The aim is to increase its luminosity by a factor of 5–10 beyond the original design value and provide 3000 fb–1 in 10 to 12 years. From a physics perspective, operating at a higher luminosity has three main purposes: to perform more accurate measurements on the new particles discovered at the LHC; to observe rare processes that occur at rates below the current sensitivity, whether predicted by the Standard Model or by the new physics scenarios unveiled by the LHC; and to extend exploration of the energy frontier, to increase the discovery reach with rare events in which most of the proton momentum is concentrated in a single quark or gluon. This has led to the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project, which relies on innovative technologies such as cutting-edge 12 T superconducting magnets with large aperture, compact and ultraprecise superconducting cavities for beam rotation, new types of collimators and 300-m long, high-power superconducting links with almost zero energy dissipation. The most technically challenging aspects require CERN to form strong external collaborations, which is why part of the HL-LHC project is grouped under the FP7 HiLumi LHC Design Study. [Edited extract from the CERN Courier] |
