The accelerator chain prepares for high luminosity | home.cern
By Jacques Fichet and Corinne Pralavorio (CERN) on home.cern

Earlier this month, the accelerator propelled particle bunches containing more than 230 billion protons (2.3 x 1011): 40% more than standard bunches. As they collided inside the experiments, these bunches generated an average of 150 collisions, compared to around 65 collisions during ordinary operations. These tests, which ran for several hours, were aiming to study the lifespan of beams in collision mode, in conditions similar to those expected in the HL-LHC