CERN has begun disconnecting the Large Hadron Collider’s most critical magnets as part of the High‑Luminosity upgrade slated for completion in 2029.
The operation targets roughly 1,200 dipole magnets that steer particle beams around the 27‑kilometre ring. New superconducting units, built from niobium‑tin, will generate magnetic fields about 40% stronger than the existing niobium‑titanium magnets, allowing the beams to be squeezed tighter before they collide.
New magnets promise tighter beams
By increasing the field strength, the upgraded collider can raise its instantaneous luminosity by a factor of ten, according to CERN’s upgrade plan. Higher luminosity translates into many more proton‑proton collisions per second, giving the ATLAS and CMS detectors a richer dataset to probe rare processes.
“The stronger magnets will let us focus the beams more sharply, which is essential for the precision measurements we are after,” CERN said in a statement released on Tuesday.
Engineering the swap
Replacing the magnets is a logistical challenge. Each unit weighs around 35 tonnes and must be cooled to 1.9 kelvin – just above absolute zero – using a sophisticated cryogenic system. Technicians have to lift the old magnets out of the vacuum‑tight tunnel, disconnect thousands of superconducting cables, and install the new modules without contaminating the ultra‑clean environment.
Robotic handling tools, guided by laser‑based alignment systems, are being used to position the magnets within a few hundred microns. Even a tiny misalignment could degrade beam quality or cause a costly shutdown later.
Because the collider operates in a continuous vacuum, the work must be carried out during the long shutdown that began earlier this year. Teams from across Europe and Asia are rotating through the tunnel, often in shifts that run through the night, to keep the schedule on track.
Physics prospects after the upgrade
When the High‑Luminosity programme is fully operational, physicists expect to collect an integrated luminosity of up to 300 inverse femtobarns per year – roughly ten times the current rate. This bounty of data could sharpen measurements of the Higgs boson’s couplings, search for subtle violations of the Standard Model, and improve the sensitivity to phenomena such as dark‑matter candidates or supersymmetric particles.
“We are entering a regime where rare processes that were previously out of reach become observable,” said a senior researcher at the ATLAS experiment, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Beyond particle physics, the upgraded magnet technology is set to push the limits of superconductivity, with potential spill‑over into medical imaging, energy transmission and quantum computing.
Timeline and next steps
The magnet replacement is expected to finish by early 2027, after which the collider will undergo a series of cryogenic tests and beam‑commissioning runs. CERN aims to resume physics‑producing collisions by mid‑2028, giving the experiments roughly a year to calibrate before the full high‑luminosity programme begins.
Stakeholders, including the European Union’s research funding bodies, have pledged continued financial support, recognising the upgrade as a cornerstone of Europe’s long‑term scientific strategy.
As the work progresses, CERN will provide regular updates on the installation schedule and any emerging technical hurdles.
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