Cern News

Accelerator Report: Reviving antimatter physics and fine-tuning luminosity measurements in the LHC

On Friday, 30 June, an exciting milestone was reached: the much-awaited antiproton physics season finally commenced. Originally scheduled for 11 May, the start had to postponed due to an unforeseen water leak that occurred on 14 March in a special quadrupole magnet located in the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) machine. As a result, the magnet had to be removed for repair in the workshop before being reinstalled to finalise hardware and beam commissioning. Consequently, the start of antimatter physics was rescheduled for 30 June. The AD-ELENA operations team, together with many experts, have been working hard to meet – with success – this important deadline.

The delay caused by the leaking magnet resulted in a loss of 50 physics days for the experiments behind the ELENA machine. To partially compensate for this significant loss of precious physics time, the 2023 run for the antimatter factory has been extended by 12 days. The extended run will now conclude at 6 a.m. on 13 November. This adjustment is intended to maximise scientific output and make best use of the available time for the experiments, without compromising on the many activities scheduled for the 2023–2024 year-end technical stop (YETS).

On the LHC side, the technical stop mentioned in the last Accelerator Report has been successfully completed. Following the stop, special physics runs were conducted along with a short intensity ramp-up to revalidate the LHC machine for luminosity production. Despite some delays caused by technical issues, including a power cut affecting part of CERN, the machine has now resumed normal operation with the aim of maximising luminosity production.

One of the special physics runs was the so-called “van der Meer” run, which plays a crucial role in precisely calibrating the experiments’ luminosity measurements. This calibration involves establishing a precise relationship between the beam separation and the observed rate of particle interactions. During the van der Meer scan, the separation between the colliding beams is intentionally varied, leading to changes in the number of particle interactions. Through meticulous control of the beam separation and thorough analysis of the resulting data, the experts in the experiments can accurately determine the relationship between beam separation and observed interactions. This relationship is referred to as the “luminosity calibration curve”, which serves as vital input towards an accurate – in the order of one per cent – determination of the number of collisions recorded by the LHC experiments.

This is just one part of the LHC luminosity scan application, where the beam separation steps for the CMS van der Meer scan are clearly visible (second row of plots): on the left-hand side we see the horizontal separation, and on the right-hand side the vertical separation. The resulting luminosity is given in the bottom left-hand plot. (Image: CERN)

The LHC will continue its proton collisions and luminosity production until a brief technical stop in mid-September. Subsequently, the focus will shift to lead-ion collisions until 30 October, when the YETS is set to commence.

anschaef Thu, 07/06/2023 - 11:43 Byline Rende Steerenberg Publication Date Wed, 07/05/2023 - 11:42

Computer Security: Dear summer students, welcome!

A warm welcome to the summer-student class of 2023! We’re glad that you made it to CERN! We offer a packed agenda for the next two months: challenging lectures; interesting projects to tackle with your team; and lots of time to take a great big gulp of CERN’s academic freedom, spirit and creativity! In order to make your digital life as comfortable as possible, however, there are a few things you need to know.

When you join CERN, you’re given a CERN computing account. Take care of your account password as any evil-doer might misuse it to spam the world on your behalf, abuse CERN’s computing clusters in your name, download journals in bulk from CERN’s digital library, or simply compromise your CERN PC and extract your photos, documents or personal data, or spy on you using your computer’s microphone or webcam. Worst-case scenario, the whole Organization is at risk! Similarly, take good care of your CERN and personal computers, tablets and smartphones. Give them some freedom to update themselves so you benefit from the latest protective measures. “Auto-update” is a good friend, just make sure that it’s enabled – as it should be by default.

A particularly nasty way to lose your password, at CERN or at home, is to reply to so-called “phishing emails”, i.e. emails asking for your password. No serious person – the CERN Computer Security team, the CERN Service Desk or your CERN supervisor – would send such an email, only dishonest people or fraudsters would. So stay on the lookout and don’t enter your password in weird webpages. Don’t click on links in emails obviously not intended for you, for example, emails not addressed to you, not coming from the real CERN, not written in one of your native languages, or of no relevance to you. Ask us at Computer.Security@cern.ch if you have any doubts. Similarly, don’t randomly click on web links, but stop and think first. Otherwise, you might infect your computer in no time – and the sole remedy will be a full reinstallation of your device (easier if you have backups!).

CERN has awesome network connectivity to the world. But it’s for professional purposes. While private usage is tolerated, please do not abuse this. Keep your bandwidth low. In particular, refrain from bulk downloading movies or software. Remember “copyright”? It also applies at CERN. Any violation of copyright reported to CERN will be followed up and any infringement costs will be passed on to the perpetrator. The same holds true for pirated software. If you have stored pirated licence keys on your device, it’s time to delete them. Companies are monitoring for abuse of their software and infringement costs can quickly reach five to six figures. This one is of particular importance: if you need particular software, have a look at CERN’s central software repositories.

While you’re at CERN, you might be working on a project requiring digital resources – setting up a webpage, writing some code, developing hardware. Please don’t reinvent the wheel if you need a database. Or a webserver. Or some software. The CERN IT department can provide a wide variety of centrally managed and secure services for your digital convenience. Just put yourself on their shoulders and build on top. Free up your time and brain for creativity and let CERN IT provide the tools. Moreover, make sure that all your development work, software, design drawings, documentation and so on are made available to your supervisor when you leave. This will ensure your legacy lives on at CERN. If you keep them to yourself, they’ll get purged and deleted, and your time at CERN will be forgotten.

For those who are curious, here is how the contents of this Bulletin article looked 20 years ago. (Image: CERN)

Finally, like anywhere else, there are some rules to respect. Use of CERN’s computing facilities is governed by the CERN Computing Rules. Basically, be reasonable. Don’t do anything that could be considered immoral, illegal or abusive. Similarly, personal use of CERN’s computing facilities is tolerated, but within the aforementioned limits. For example, browsing pornography is forbidden unless you have a good professional reason to do so (and it might be awkward receiving a corresponding cease-and-desist email from us). In another example, crypto-mining on CERN’s computing clusters is definitely a no-no. Just don’t.

So, make sure that you respect these few ground rules – keep your system up to date – protect your password – STOP-THINK-DON’T CLICK – respect copyright – preserve your work – follow the CERN Computing Rules. We wish you a great and exciting stay at CERN. Have fun and enjoy!

______

Do you want to learn more about computer security incidents and issues at CERN? Follow our Monthly Report. For further information, questions or help, check our website or contact us at Computer.Security@cern.ch.

anschaef Wed, 07/05/2023 - 11:45 Byline Computer Security team Publication Date Wed, 07/05/2023 - 11:43

Computer Security: Dear summer students, welcome!

A warm welcome to the summer-student class of 2023! We’re glad that you made it to CERN! We offer a packed agenda for the next two months: challenging lectures; interesting projects to tackle with your team; and lots of time to take a great big gulp of CERN’s academic freedom, spirit and creativity! In order to make your digital life as comfortable as possible, however, there are a few things you need to know.

When you join CERN, you’re given a CERN computing account. Take care of your account password as any evil-doer might misuse it to spam the world on your behalf, abuse CERN’s computing clusters in your name, download journals in bulk from CERN’s digital library, or simply compromise your CERN PC and extract your photos, documents or personal data, or spy on you using your computer’s microphone or webcam. Worst-case scenario, the whole Organization is at risk! Similarly, take good care of your CERN and personal computers, tablets and smartphones. Give them some freedom to update themselves so you benefit from the latest protective measures. “Auto-update” is a good friend, just make sure that it’s enabled – as it should be by default.

A particularly nasty way to lose your password, at CERN or at home, is to reply to so-called “phishing emails”, i.e. emails asking for your password. No serious person – the CERN Computer Security team, the CERN Service Desk or your CERN supervisor – would send such an email, only dishonest people or fraudsters would. So stay on the lookout and don’t enter your password in weird webpages. Don’t click on links in emails obviously not intended for you, for example, emails not addressed to you, not coming from the real CERN, not written in one of your native languages, or of no relevance to you. Ask us at Computer.Security@cern.ch if you have any doubts. Similarly, don’t randomly click on web links, but stop and think first. Otherwise, you might infect your computer in no time – and the sole remedy will be a full reinstallation of your device (easier if you have backups!).

CERN has awesome network connectivity to the world. But it’s for professional purposes. While private usage is tolerated, please do not abuse this. Keep your bandwidth low. In particular, refrain from bulk downloading movies or software. Remember “copyright”? It also applies at CERN. Any violation of copyright reported to CERN will be followed up and any infringement costs will be passed on to the perpetrator. The same holds true for pirated software. If you have stored pirated licence keys on your device, it’s time to delete them. Companies are monitoring for abuse of their software and infringement costs can quickly reach five to six figures. This one is of particular importance: if you need particular software, have a look at CERN’s central software repositories.

While you’re at CERN, you might be working on a project requiring digital resources – setting up a webpage, writing some code, developing hardware. Please don’t reinvent the wheel if you need a database. Or a webserver. Or some software. The CERN IT department can provide a wide variety of centrally managed and secure services for your digital convenience. Just put yourself on their shoulders and build on top. Free up your time and brain for creativity and let CERN IT provide the tools. Moreover, make sure that all your development work, software, design drawings, documentation and so on are made available to your supervisor when you leave. This will ensure your legacy lives on at CERN. If you keep them to yourself, they’ll get purged and deleted, and your time at CERN will be forgotten.

For those of you who are a bit older, see how this Bulletin article looked like 20 years ago. (Image: CERN)

Finally, like anywhere else, there are some rules to respect. Use of CERN’s computing facilities is governed by the CERN Computing Rules. Basically, be reasonable. Don’t do anything that could be considered immoral, illegal or abusive. Similarly, personal use of CERN’s computing facilities is tolerated, but within the aforementioned limits. For example, browsing pornography is forbidden unless you have a good professional reason to do so (and it might be awkward receiving a corresponding cease-and-desist email from us). In another example, crypto-mining on CERN’s computing clusters is definitely a no-no. Just don’t.

So, make sure that you respect these few ground rules – keep your system up to date – protect your password – STOP-THINK-DON’T CLICK – respect copyright – preserve your work – follow the CERN Computing Rules. We wish you a great and exciting stay at CERN. Have fun and enjoy!

______

Do you want to learn more about computer security incidents and issues at CERN? Follow our Monthly Report. For further information, questions or help, check our website or contact us at Computer.Security@cern.ch.

anschaef Wed, 07/05/2023 - 11:45 Byline Computer Security team Publication Date Wed, 07/05/2023 - 11:43

Gender diversity on the right track at CERN

In spring 2021, the Diversity & Inclusion programme launched the “25 by ’25” strategy, an aspirational target-based initiative to boost the gender and nationality diversity of CERN’s staff and fellows population (MPEs) by 2025. The overall percentage of women among MPEs has hovered around 20% for the past decade, but the “25 by ’25” strategy has got things moving, bringing CERN closer to its target: 25% of women among MPEs by the end of 2025.

The professional categories 1, 2 and 3 are: physicists, engineers and technicians. (Image: CERN)

The figures tell a very encouraging story when it comes to new recruits: in 2018, the proportion of women among new arrivals was 20.2%; in 2022 it was 27.7%. And the progression is even greater for roles in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), going from 15.5% of women in 2018 to 23.3% in 2022.

“The numbers couldn’t be clearer: there is a high level of engagement and a concerted effort from the hiring management, in particular within the STEM categories. We are really thankful for the continued engagement of CERN’s Management since the endorsement of the strategy in 2021,” says Louise Carvalho, CERN’s Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) programme leader.

The increased awareness and collaboration regarding diversity and inclusion is visible at all grades and levels of the personnel, in particular since the department heads’ appointment last year of 19 Diversity & Inclusion Officers (DIOs). Through the DIO community, specific actions and communications are transmitted effectively to the personnel, serving as a highly useful and enriching “D&I multiplier” resource for the D&I programme.

For nationality diversity, the overall aim is to improve the ratio of Member States’ budget contribution to hiring rate as well as to address nationality clusters. To this end, the D&I programme is currently undertaking a deeper analysis of each department. Progress in this domain will be reported toward the end of this year, so stay tuned!

anschaef Wed, 07/05/2023 - 11:09 Byline Anaïs Schaeffer Publication Date Wed, 07/05/2023 - 11:07

Gender diversity on the right track at CERN

In spring 2021, the Diversity & Inclusion programme launched the “25 by ’25” strategy, an aspirational target-based initiative to boost the gender and nationality diversity of CERN’s staff and fellows population (MPEs) by 2025. The overall percentage of women among MPEs has hovered around 20% for the past decade, but the “25 by ’25” strategy has got things moving, bringing CERN closer to its target: 25% of women among MPEs by the end of 2025.

The professional categories 1, 2 and 3 are: physicists, engineers and technicians. (Image: CERN)

The figures tell a very encouraging story when it comes to new recruits: in 2018, the proportion of women among new arrivals was 20.2%; in 2022 it was 27.7%. And the progression is even greater for roles in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), going from 15.5% of women in 2018 to 23.3% in 2022.

“The numbers couldn’t be clearer: there is a high level of engagement and a concerted effort from the hiring management, in particular within the STEM categories. We are really thankful for the continued engagement of CERN’s Management since the endorsement of the strategy in 2021,” says Louise Carvalho, CERN’s Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) programme leader.

The increased awareness and collaboration regarding diversity and inclusion is visible at all grades and levels of the personnel, in particular since the department heads’ appointment last year of 19 Diversity & Inclusion Officers (DIOs). Through the DIO community, specific actions and communications are transmitted effectively to the personnel, serving as a highly useful and enriching “D&I multiplier” resource for the D&I programme.

For nationality diversity, the overall aim is to improve the ratio of Member States’ budget contribution to hiring rate as well as to address nationality clusters. To this end, the D&I programme is currently undertaking a deeper analysis of each department. Progress in this domain will be reported toward the end of this year, so stay tuned!

anschaef Wed, 07/05/2023 - 11:09 Byline Anaïs Schaeffer Publication Date Wed, 07/05/2023 - 11:07

ALICE shines light into the nucleus to probe its structure

In the Large Hadron Collider, proton and lead beams travel close to the speed of light. They carry a strong electromagnetic field that acts like a flux of photons as the beam moves through the accelerator. When the two beams at the LHC pass by close to each other without colliding, one of the beams may emit a photon of very high energy that strikes the other beam. This can result in photon—nucleus, photon—proton, and even photon—photon collisions. The ALICE collaboration studies these collisions to investigate protons and the inner structure of nuclei, and has recently released new results on this topic at the LHCP 2023 conference.

Photons are ideal tools to study the interior of nuclei. Usually when a photon collides with a nucleus, two gluons (force carriers of the strong interaction) are exchanged, which results in the production of a quark-antiquark pair. Researchers further distinguish two different classes of these collisions: when a photon interacts with the whole nucleus (a coherent collision), and when a photon interacts with a single nucleon inside the nucleus (an incoherent collision).

Inside nuclei, scientists look for high numbers of gluons, which indicate high levels of gluon density. Theoretical models suggest that the gluon density inside nuclei increases when they approach the speed of light. If the density increases enough, the nucleus will become saturated with gluonic matter, meaning that the number of gluons in the nucleus cannot increase any further. Directly probing gluonic saturated matter is one of the main outstanding challenges in the field of strong interactions, and observing it could lead to further insight into the inner structure of protons and nuclei.

If a charm quark-antiquark pair is produced in a photon—nucleus collision, this is known as J/ψ meson production. Scientists study how coherent J/ψ production varies with photon energy in order to look for gluon saturation effects. As the photon energy increases, it becomes easier and easier to “see” the gluonic matter inside the nuclei. The new ALICE results on J/ψ production using LHC Run 2 data cover a larger momentum range than previous measurements from Run 1, and are in line with expectations of gluon-saturation models.

Incoherent collisions offer the opportunity to study geometrical configurations of the quantum fluctuations in the internal structure of the proton. The ALICE collaboration achieves this by studying the distribution of momentum that is transferred to the J/ψ meson. In a new study, the collaboration has been able to show that this momentum transfer can only be described when areas of saturated gluonic matter, called gluonic hotspots, are introduced into the models.

The ALICE collaboration will continue to investigate these phenomena in LHC Runs 3 and 4, where high-precision measurements with larger data samples will provide more powerful tools to better understand the role of saturation and gluonic hotspots.

Further reading:

• ALICE Collaboration, 2023 https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.06169
• ALICE Collaboration, 2023 https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.12403
• ALICE Collaboration, 2023 https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.10928
• ALICE Collaboration, 2023 https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.03235
• https://alice-collaboration.web.cern.ch/LHCP2023

ndinmore Wed, 07/05/2023 - 10:51 Byline ALICE collaboration Publication Date Fri, 07/14/2023 - 10:49

A welcome web accessibility workshop A visual summary of the workshop, created by Jennifer Cham from the FAP department. Find out more about her sketchnoting in this article on the IdeaSquare website. (Image: CC-BY-4.0)

As the birthplace of the web, it is essential that CERN has an accessible web presence.

With this in mind, an introductory workshop to digital accessibility took place at CERN on 26 June. It looked at the state of web accessibility at CERN, what's in the pipeline, and what we can all do to improve accessibility.

The slides and recording, both available on Indico, provide tips and guidance to make online content and interfaces more accessible in a wider range of situations.

From improving colour contrast to writing meaningful alternative text for images, and much more, this guidance not only helps people using assistive technologies, but also makes it easier and more efficient for all web users to access information online.

As a first step, web owners can use the WAVE browser extension to spot accessibility errors and how to fix them.

katebrad Wed, 07/05/2023 - 09:41 Byline Kate Kahle Publication Date Wed, 07/05/2023 - 09:39

A welcome web accessibility workshop A visual summary of the workshop, created by Jennifer Cham from the FAP department. Find out more about her sketchnoting in this article on the IdeaSquare website. (Image: CC-BY-4.0)

As the birthplace of the web, it is essential that CERN has an accessible web presence.

With this in mind, an introductory workshop to digital accessibility took place at CERN on 26 June. It looked at the state of web accessibility at CERN, what's in the pipeline, and what we can all do to improve accessibility.

The slides and recording, both available on Indico, provide tips and guidance to make online content and interfaces more accessible in a wider range of situations.

From improving colour contrast to writing meaningful alternative text for images, and much more, this guidance not only helps people using assistive technologies, but also makes it easier and more efficient for all web users to access information online.

As a first step, web owners can use the WAVE browser extension to spot accessibility errors and how to fix them.

katebrad Wed, 07/05/2023 - 09:41 Byline Kate Kahle Publication Date Wed, 07/05/2023 - 09:39

New management for the LHCb collaboration in 2023

On 1 July 2023, a new spokesperson, Vincenzo Vagnoni (INFN Bologna), and two deputies, Patrick Robbe (CNRS/IN2P3 and University of Paris-Saclay) and Ulrich Uwer (Heidelberg University), took over at the helm of the LHCb collaboration for the coming three years. They succeed an outgoing management team composed of former spokesperson Chris Parks (University of Manchester) and former deputy Matteo Palutan (INFN).

Patrick Robbe and Ulrich Uwer are the new deputy spokespersons of the LHCb experiment (Image: CERN)

Vincenzo, Patrick and Ulrich will lead LHCb through a crucial period during which the performance of the upgraded detector will be demonstrated. This new detector, which was recently installed, will increase the beauty and charm particle data sample for many channels by an order of magnitude, and is now starting its physics data-taking period. In parallel, the new management team will oversee the finalisation of the project laying out future improvements, known as Upgrade II.

Read more on the LHCb website.

thortala Wed, 07/05/2023 - 09:13 Byline LHCb collaboration Publication Date Wed, 07/05/2023 - 09:10

New management for the LHCb collaboration in 2023

On 1 July 2023, a new spokesperson, Vincenzo Vagnoni (INFN Bologna), and two deputies, Patrick Robbe (CNRS/IN2P3 and University of Paris-Saclay) and Ulrich Uwer (Heidelberg University), took over at the helm of the LHCb collaboration for the coming three years. They succeed an outgoing management team composed of former spokesperson Chris Parks (University of Manchester) and former deputy Matteo Palutan (INFN).

Patrick Robbe and Ulrich Uwer are the new deputy spokespersons of the LHCb experiment (Image: CERN)

Vincenzo, Patrick and Ulrich will lead LHCb through a crucial period during which the performance of the upgraded detector will be demonstrated. This new detector, which was recently installed, will increase the beauty and charm particle data sample for many channels by an order of magnitude, and is now starting its physics data-taking period. In parallel, the new management team will oversee the finalisation of the project laying out future improvements, known as Upgrade II.

Read more on the LHCb website.

thortala Wed, 07/05/2023 - 09:13 Byline LHCb collaboration Publication Date Wed, 07/05/2023 - 09:10

Alumni assemble! “Third collisions” event to take place in February 2024

CERN alumni are invited to come together on the weekend of 9–11 February for a major reunion event at CERN’s new Science Gateway. Held at the start of CERN’s 70th-anniversary year, the event provides a fantastic opportunity to celebrate what makes CERN such a special place: you and all the others who have contributed in many diverse ways!

The theme of the event is “Accelerating beyond”. This highlights the important role CERN can play as a career launchpad, as well as the positive impact CERN alumni – and technologies – frequently go on to have on wider society. CERN alumni now working in fields such as AI, the environment, data science and healthcare will present their fascinating work at the event. As at previous “collisions” events, there will also be a focus on diversity. This is especially important for this edition, with the final day of the event coinciding with the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

The event will also feature keynote talks on the future of CERN, a gala dinner, a jobs fair, CERN tours, workshops with alumni startup companies, entertainment, sporting activities and much more. In addition, there will be a special prize-giving ceremony, with awards going to alumni who have made a significant positive impact on wider society and alumni who have helped to foster growth of the CERN Alumni Network. Most importantly though, the event will provide a wonderful opportunity to catch up with former colleagues and establish new connections.

This will be the third major “collisions” event organised by the CERN Alumni team. The first edition was held in 2018 and the award-winning second edition was held in 2021 (online only, due to the coronavirus pandemic).

“Whether you’re a CERN alum or you’re working at CERN today, join us for this exclusive weekend,” says Rachel Bray, Head of the CERN Alumni programme. “We have talks and activities guaranteed to both inspire and entertain you, as well as opportunities to reconnect and develop your network.” The network continues to grow rapidly, with active groups across the globe. Today, there are almost 9000 members from over 100 countries.

Save the date for this exciting weekend, which will be jampacked with inspiration, insights and ideas. The event is open to alumni, current members of personnel and “plus ones”.  A full list of speakers – and other special surprises – will be announced soon. Registration will also open soon. Places are limited, so make sure you’re a member of the CERN Alumni Network and stay tuned to the weekly alumni newsletter to find out as soon as tickets become available.

You can also help shape the upcoming alumni event by completing this survey and telling us what you’d like to see over this special weekend.

thortala Mon, 07/03/2023 - 11:14 Byline Andrew Purcell Publication Date Mon, 07/03/2023 - 11:13

Alumni assemble! “Third collisions” event to take place in February 2024

CERN alumni are invited to come together on the weekend of 9–11 February for a major reunion event at CERN’s new Science Gateway. Held at the start of CERN’s 70th-anniversary year, the event provides a fantastic opportunity to celebrate what makes CERN such a special place: you and all the others who have contributed in many diverse ways!

The theme of the event is “Accelerating beyond”. This highlights the important role CERN can play as a career launchpad, as well as the positive impact CERN alumni – and technologies – frequently go on to have on wider society. CERN alumni now working in fields such as AI, the environment, data science and healthcare will present their fascinating work at the event. As at previous “collisions” events, there will also be a focus on diversity. This is especially important for this edition, with the final day of the event coinciding with the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

The event will also feature keynote talks on the future of CERN, a gala dinner, a jobs fair, CERN tours, workshops with alumni startup companies, entertainment, sporting activities and much more. In addition, there will be a special prize-giving ceremony, with awards going to alumni who have made a significant positive impact on wider society and alumni who have helped to foster growth of the CERN Alumni Network. Most importantly though, the event will provide a wonderful opportunity to catch up with former colleagues and establish new connections.

This will be the third major “collisions” event organised by the CERN Alumni team. The first edition was held in 2018 and the award-winning second edition was held in 2021 (online only, due to the coronavirus pandemic).

“Whether you’re a CERN alum or you’re working at CERN today, join us for this exclusive weekend,” says Rachel Bray, Head of the CERN Alumni programme. “We have talks and activities guaranteed to both inspire and entertain you, as well as opportunities to reconnect and develop your network.” The network continues to grow rapidly, with active groups across the globe. Today, there are almost 9000 members from over 100 countries.

Save the date for this exciting weekend, which will be jampacked with inspiration, insights and ideas. The event is open to alumni, current members of personnel and “plus ones”.  A full list of speakers – and other special surprises – will be announced soon. Registration will also open soon. Places are limited, so make sure you’re a member of the CERN Alumni Network and stay tuned to the weekly alumni newsletter to find out as soon as tickets become available.

You can also help shape the upcoming alumni event by completing this survey and telling us what you’d like to see over this special weekend.

thortala Mon, 07/03/2023 - 11:14 Byline Andrew Purcell Publication Date Mon, 07/03/2023 - 11:13

CERN tech to help investigate the dark universe

Today, at exactly 17.11 CEST, the European Space Agency’s newest mission was launched in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA. Called Euclid, the 2-tonne, 4.5-m-tall and 3.1-m-in-diameter space telescope will be used to map the geometry of the Universe, in particular to explore the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Euclid has been a CERN-recognised experiment since 2015 and will use key software and computing infrastructure provided by CERN to process vast amounts of data.

Understanding the evolution of the Universe is a fundamental challenge in modern physics. Astronomical observations show that the Universe’s rate of expansion is not constant, and scientists believe that dark energy could be the culprit, while dark matter governs the large-scale structure of the Universe. As their names suggest, dark matter and dark energy are “invisible” to current telescopes, because they do not interact with light in the way that normal – or “visible” – matter does. Scientists instead use telescopes like Euclid to look for their effects on observable matter, such as measuring their redshifts to study the tiny deformations of galaxy shapes and the distribution of galaxies over space and time. Euclid will be the most comprehensive investigation to date, scanning optical light from billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away, covering almost a third of the sky. The aim is to create a map through time and space of the large-scale structure of the Universe.

To do this, the mission requires vast amounts of data and data-processing capabilities. This is where CERN, which is used to processing and storing data from millions of high-energy particle collisions per second, comes in. CERN is involved in the Euclid programme’s science ground segment (SGS). The SGS will process and analyse Euclid data and merge it with data from ground-based telescopes to study the properties of dark energy and dark matter.

The SGS will process over 850 Gbits of compressed images per day, the largest of any ESA mission to date, producing at the end more than tens of petabytes of reduced data. “Given the complexity of the infrastructure and the pressure in analysing the data as fast as possible, the support and expertise of CERN is of high relevance,” says Luca Valenziano, Euclid Consortium representative at CERN. “The data will be processed in a distributed infrastructure of nine data centres. CERN provides the means to efficiently deploy the software to these data centres using CVMFS (CernVM File System), and will continue to support the Euclid SGS in this way during its mission lifetime.”

CERN’s involvement is not limited to a technological contribution, as theoretical physics at the Laboratory has strong ties with the science of Euclid. “The exact properties of galaxy density fluctuations depend on the entire history of the Universe, and cosmologists at CERN have been working on developing theoretical frameworks to predict them,” explains Marko Simonović, from CERN’s Theoretical Physics department. “Tools developed among other places at CERN will be used by the Euclid collaboration to make comparisons of data and theory and test theories beyond standard models of cosmology and particle physics. Any new discovery in cosmology would indirectly be a new discovery in particle physics.” 

CERN is part of the Euclid consortium, an organisation that brings together about 2000 scientists in 300 laboratories in 17 different countries in Europe, USA, Canada and Japan. It is responsible for designing and building the NISP and VIS instruments, for gathering all ground-based complementary data, developing the survey strategy and the data processing pipeline to produce all calibrated images and catalogues and the scientific exploitation of the data.

Read more:

• Euclid to link the largest and smallest scales (CERN Courier)
• Euclid mission page (ESA)
• Euclid consortium website

ndinmore Fri, 06/30/2023 - 14:26 Byline Naomi Dinmore Publication Date Sat, 07/01/2023 - 18:00

CERN tech to help investigate the dark universe

Today, at exactly 17.11 CEST, the European Space Agency’s newest mission was launched in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA. Called Euclid, the 2-tonne, 4.5-m-tall and 3.1-m-in-diameter space telescope will be used to map the geometry of the Universe, in particular to explore the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Euclid has been a CERN-recognised experiment since 2015 and will use key software and computing infrastructure provided by CERN to process vast amounts of data.

Understanding the evolution of the Universe is a fundamental challenge in modern physics. Astronomical observations show that the Universe’s rate of expansion is not constant, and scientists believe that dark energy could be the culprit, while dark matter governs the large-scale structure of the Universe. As their names suggest, dark matter and dark energy are “invisible” to current telescopes, because they do not interact with light in the way that normal – or “visible” – matter does. Scientists instead use telescopes like Euclid to look for their effects on observable matter, such as measuring their redshifts to study the tiny deformations of galaxy shapes and the distribution of galaxies over space and time. Euclid will be the most comprehensive investigation to date, scanning optical light from billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away, covering almost a third of the sky. The aim is to create a map through time and space of the large-scale structure of the Universe.

To do this, the mission requires vast amounts of data and data-processing capabilities. This is where CERN, which is used to processing and storing data from millions of high-energy particle collisions per second, comes in. CERN is involved in the Euclid programme’s science ground segment (SGS). The SGS will process and analyse Euclid data and merge it with data from ground-based telescopes to study the properties of dark energy and dark matter.

The SGS will process over 850 Gbits of compressed images per day, the largest of any ESA mission to date, producing at the end more than tens of petabytes of reduced data. “Given the complexity of the infrastructure and the pressure in analysing the data as fast as possible, the support and expertise of CERN is of high relevance,” says Luca Valenziano, Euclid Consortium representative at CERN. “The data will be processed in a distributed infrastructure of nine data centres. CERN provides the means to efficiently deploy the software to these data centres using the CernVM-FS tool, and will continue to support the Euclid SGS in this way during its mission lifetime.”

CERN’s involvement is not limited to a technological contribution, as theoretical physics at the Laboratory has strong ties with the science of Euclid. “The exact properties of galaxy density fluctuations depend on the entire history of the Universe, and cosmologists at CERN have been working on developing theoretical frameworks to predict them,” explains Marko Simonović, from CERN’s Theoretical Physics department. “Tools developed among other places at CERN will be used by the Euclid collaboration to make comparisons of data and theory and test theories beyond standard models of cosmology and particle physics. Any new discovery in cosmology would indirectly be a new discovery in particle physics.” 

CERN is part of the Euclid consortium, an organisation that brings together about 2000 scientists in 300 laboratories in 17 different countries in Europe, USA, Canada and Japan. It is responsible for designing and building the NISP and VIS instruments, for gathering all ground-based complementary data, developing the survey strategy and the data processing pipeline to produce all calibrated images and catalogues and the scientific exploitation of the data.

Read more:

• Euclid to link the largest and smallest scales (CERN Courier)
• Euclid mission page (ESA)
• Euclid consortium website

ndinmore Fri, 06/30/2023 - 14:26 Byline Naomi Dinmore Publication Date Sat, 07/01/2023 - 18:00

You’ll never guess these six unlikely benefits of being a CERN Guide

Who would have thought that being a CERN Guide in the Science Gateway era could give you so many benefits. See for yourself in the list below (you’ll never guess number six).

1. The why

“What made you want to work at CERN?” Answering this visitor’s question unlocks the memories of why you came to CERN. CERN is constantly evolving, researching, developing and pushing boundaries. So, as a CERN Guide, each time you take part, you could see, hear, experience something new and exciting that reminds you why you chose to work in such an inspiring place.

2. Exclusive access

Unlock exclusive behind-the-scenes access to areas of CERN. Plus, access a dedicated space for CERN Guides in Science Gateway and join the community to share ideas, download content and sign up for talks and trainings.

3. Wellbeing

Emerging from the COVID-19 years, there’s something all the more special about, once again, interacting with people of all ages. And now, Science Gateway activities are aimed at visitors aged from 5 to 105+. There’s something for everyone. Engaging with these different audiences can bring joy to your job, make your eyes shine brighter and boost your spirits.

4. Physical health

Ask any doctor, or PhD student at least, and they’ll confirm that guiding groups increases your step count. It gets you away from a computer screen and into the fresh air. You can even add extra cardio to your workout by getting visitors to walk a little faster between visit points.

5. New skills

Find out something that you never knew about CERN, from engineering to physics to computing to funny anecdotes from CERN’s history. You don’t need a scientific background to be a CERN Guide – all profiles and languages are welcome, helping showcase CERN’s diversity. You just need an active CERN affiliation for six months or more to sign up for training. Improve your skills in communicating, in adapting to different audiences, in languages, and get tips on how to answer the most bizarre visitor questions.  

 

6. Productivity

The strangest benefit by far is that alternating your day-to-day work with being a CERN Guide could actually make you more productive. As illustrated by this wonderful cartoon.  

What now?

With Science Gateway opening this autumn, you have the chance to:

• Showcase interactive exhibitions
• Facilitate hands-on lab workshops
• Perform interactive science shows
• Guide visitors on tours of CERN sites
• Take part in local events

To find out more and sign up for newly available online courses, visit: https://guides.web.cern.ch/join

thortala Fri, 06/30/2023 - 09:50 Byline Kate Kahle Publication Date Fri, 06/30/2023 - 09:46

You’ll never guess these six unlikely benefits of being a CERN Guide

Who would have thought that being a CERN Guide in the Science Gateway era could give you so many benefits. See for yourself in the list below (you’ll never guess number six).

1. The why

“What made you want to work at CERN?” Answering this visitor’s question unlocks the memories of why you came to CERN. CERN is constantly evolving, researching, developing and pushing boundaries. So, as a CERN Guide, each time you take part, you could see, hear, experience something new and exciting that reminds you why you chose to work in such an inspiring place.

2. Exclusive access

Unlock exclusive behind-the-scenes access to areas of CERN. Plus, access a dedicated space for CERN Guides in Science Gateway and join the community to share ideas, download content and sign up for talks and trainings.

3. Wellbeing

Emerging from the COVID-19 years, there’s something all the more special about, once again, interacting with people of all ages. And now, Science Gateway activities are aimed at visitors aged from 5 to 105+. There’s something for everyone. Engaging with these different audiences can bring joy to your job, make your eyes shine brighter and boost your spirits.

4. Physical health

Ask any doctor, or PhD student at least, and they’ll confirm that guiding groups increases your step count. It gets you away from a computer screen and into the fresh air. You can even add extra cardio to your workout by getting visitors to walk a little faster between visit points.

5. New skills

Find out something that you never knew about CERN, from engineering to physics to computing to funny anecdotes from CERN’s history. You don’t need a scientific background to be a CERN Guide – all profiles and languages are welcome, helping showcase CERN’s diversity. You just need an active CERN affiliation for six months or more to sign up for training. Improve your skills in communicating, in adapting to different audiences, in languages, and get tips on how to answer the most bizarre visitor questions.  

 

6. Productivity

The strangest benefit by far is that alternating your day-to-day work with being a CERN Guide could actually make you more productive. As illustrated by this wonderful cartoon.  

What now?

With Science Gateway opening this autumn, you have the chance to:

• Showcase interactive exhibitions
• Facilitate hands-on lab workshops
• Perform interactive science shows
• Guide visitors on tours of CERN sites
• Take part in local events

To find out more and sign up for newly available online courses, visit: https://guides.web.cern.ch/join

thortala Fri, 06/30/2023 - 09:50 Byline Kate Kahle Publication Date Fri, 06/30/2023 - 09:46

From physics to finance: how can CERN tools help to uncover market manipulation?

Whether on the trading floor or in the CERN control rooms, vast streams of constantly changing data cross each other under the watchful eye of experts. On the one hand, physicists analyse the results of particle collisions – now over one exabyte of data is stored in CERN’s computing facilities – in search of the key data that will tell them more about the nature of the Universe. On the other hand, financial regulators scan markets riddled with hundreds of millions of algorithmically performed buy-and-sell orders with a view to exposing those who do not play by the rules and try to manipulate trade exchanges. With this in mind, it is clear that the world of physics, its tools and expertise, can be of help to the financial world.

Last month, academic financial experts and international market regulators met CERN representatives to launch a unique collaboration. Named the International Expert Group on Market Surveillance (IMS Group), the collaboration brings together 17 regulatory agencies across the world as well as CERN. “By combining academic research, industry expertise and CERN’s expert knowledge, we are uniquely positioned to drive innovation and create new solutions and tools for financial market surveillance,” says Marjolein Verhulst, the chair of the IMS Group. “In the coming months, we hope to welcome additional regulatory agencies and develop a research agenda that addresses common surveillance challenges”.

Over the last fifty years, stock exchanges have transitioned from open outcry to electronic trading, from loud shouting and hand gesturing to ever more automated, frequent and efficient processes. These changes have enabled new market manipulation techniques, such as spoofing, to thrive. Spoofing consists in distorting the price of certain financial instruments by placing “fake” buy or sell orders without the intent to trade, only to cancel them once the market has reacted. By doing so, the manipulator can then trade an opposite order at a more favourable price. This comes at the expense of other investors and lowers trust in financial institutions. To fight spoofing, it is important to closely monitor the market for microscopic signals.

When sifting through its vast stores of data, CERN has developed several tools – such as the open-source data analysis framework ROOT – to filter the data and visualise that which is potentially interesting for further analysis. Financial regulators are embracing such modern algorithms, transitioning away from the previous practice of comparing snapshots of the order book each second or minute, which misses the transactions made in between.

As a renowned expert in scientific data analysis and modelling, CERN is playing an active role in this collaboration with the IMS Group by providing some of the techniques it uses for particle physics, particularly ROOT. “ROOT has been used by physicists to analyse CERN data for over twenty years and is continuously updated”, explains Axel Naumann, a senior applied physicist at CERN. “Available as open source, ROOT provides a versatile solution for partners who are willing to make a positive impact on society and want to crack problems that require extreme data analysis, such as genomic analysis, vaccine production or Earth observation.”

The basis of this collaboration is HighLO, a research project that was launched four years ago by CERN, the Wageningen University (WUR) / Maastricht University (UM) and the Dutch Commodity Risk Management Expertise Centre (CORMEC). Using ROOT and market data, the project team developed a unique visualisation method that enables market regulators to protect commodity and financial markets from malpractices and to analyse spoofing cases in detail, such as a record-breaking spoofing case encountered by JPMorgan in 2020.

CERN’s technologies and expertise are available for scientific and commercial purposes through a variety of technology transfer opportunities. The CERN Knowledge Transfer group can help you to tap into this potential and find solutions based on CERN’s many areas of expertise. Visit the KT website or write to kt@cern.ch

The HighLO project team will present its research at the upcoming Knowledge Transfer (KT) seminar at 11 a.m. on 29 June. The presentation will be entitled “Discovering fraud: can CERN tools accelerate market surveillance?” During the talk, researchers will present this unique cooperation between CERN and the academic financial world and financial regulators. Find out more on the Indico event page.

ndinmore Fri, 06/23/2023 - 14:43 Byline Antoine Le Gall Publication Date Fri, 06/23/2023 - 14:26

From physics to finance: how can CERN tools help to uncover market manipulation?

Whether on the trading floor or in the CERN control rooms, vast streams of constantly changing data cross each other under the watchful eye of experts. On the one hand, physicists analyse the results of particle collisions – now over one exabyte of data is stored in CERN’s computing facilities – in search of the key data that will tell them more about the nature of the Universe. On the other hand, financial regulators scan markets riddled with hundreds of millions of algorithmically performed buy-and-sell orders with a view to exposing those who do not play by the rules and try to manipulate trade exchanges. With this in mind, it is clear that the world of physics, its tools and expertise, can be of help to the financial world.

Last month, academic financial experts and international market regulators met CERN representatives to launch a unique collaboration. Named the International Expert Group on Market Surveillance (IMS Group), the collaboration brings together 17 regulatory agencies across the world as well as CERN. “By combining academic research, industry expertise and CERN’s expert knowledge, we are uniquely positioned to drive innovation and create new solutions and tools for financial market surveillance,” says Marjolein Verhulst, the chair of the IMS Group. “In the coming months, we hope to welcome additional regulatory agencies and develop a research agenda that addresses common surveillance challenges”.

Over the last fifty years, stock exchanges have transitioned from open outcry to electronic trading, from loud shouting and hand gesturing to ever more automated, frequent and efficient processes. These changes have enabled new market manipulation techniques, such as spoofing, to thrive. Spoofing consists in distorting the price of certain financial instruments by placing “fake” buy or sell orders without the intent to trade, only to cancel them once the market has reacted. By doing so, the manipulator can then trade an opposite order at a more favourable price. This comes at the expense of other investors and lowers trust in financial institutions. To fight spoofing, it is important to closely monitor the market for microscopic signals.

When sifting through its vast stores of data, CERN has developed several tools – such as the open-source data analysis framework ROOT – to filter the data and visualise that which is potentially interesting for further analysis. Financial regulators are embracing such modern algorithms, transitioning away from the previous practice of comparing snapshots of the order book each second or minute, which misses the transactions made in between.

As a renowned expert in scientific data analysis and modelling, CERN is playing an active role in this collaboration with the IMS Group by providing some of the techniques it uses for particle physics, particularly ROOT. “ROOT has been used by physicists to analyse CERN data for over twenty years and is continuously updated”, explains Axel Naumann, a senior applied physicist at CERN. “Available as open source, ROOT provides a versatile solution for partners who are willing to make a positive impact on society and want to crack problems that require extreme data analysis, such as genomic analysis, vaccine production or Earth observation.”

The basis of this collaboration is HighLO, a research project that was launched four years ago by CERN, the Wageningen University (WUR) / Maastricht University (UM) and the Dutch Commodity Risk Management Expertise Centre (CORMEC). Using ROOT and market data, the project team developed a unique visualisation method that enables market regulators to protect commodity and financial markets from malpractices and to analyse spoofing cases in detail, such as a record-breaking spoofing case encountered by JPMorgan in 2020.

CERN’s technologies and expertise are available for scientific and commercial purposes through a variety of technology transfer opportunities. The CERN Knowledge Transfer group can help you to tap into this potential and find solutions based on CERN’s many areas of expertise. Visit the KT website or write to kt@cern.ch

The HighLO project team will present its research at the upcoming Knowledge Transfer (KT) seminar at 11 a.m. on 29 June. The presentation will be entitled “Discovering fraud: can CERN tools accelerate market surveillance?” During the talk, researchers will present this unique cooperation between CERN and the academic financial world and financial regulators. Find out more on the Indico event page.

ndinmore Fri, 06/23/2023 - 14:43 Byline Antoine Le Gall Publication Date Fri, 06/23/2023 - 14:26

Bike2Work at CERN reaches new heights

When CERN joined the Swiss national “Bike to Work” campaign for the first time back in 2012, we warned you that cycling could become addictive. Eleven years of Bike to Work at CERN have proven us right: for the first time since CERN entered the competition, more than 1000 Cernois have joined a team, thereby committing to cycling at least half of all working days over a period of two months (May and June). This makes CERN, with its 1008 cyclists and 17 817 cycling days registered as of Friday, 16 June, the largest participant in French-speaking Switzerland, challenged only by EPFL (with 913 participants and 18 346 cycling days).

To celebrate this success, the next CERN Critical Mass will take place on 23 June. On this occasion, all CERN cyclists are invited to meet up at Restaurant 2 at 11.45 a.m. for a ride around the Meyrin site starting at 12.00 p.m. and finishing at R1. The event aims to increase the visibility of the cycling community at CERN, with the hope of improving conditions for cyclists. Upon arrival at R1, a group photo will be taken and teams will have the opportunity to take individual photos with large posters featuring each team’s name and logo. Participants are encouraged to wear the very first Bike2Work t-shirt they ever owned. We look forward to finding out how many editions can fit in the same photo, as the CERN Bike2Work t-shirts have become a collector’s item over the years.*

Mobility patterns are changing at CERN. In recent years, the conditions for cycling on the CERN site and in the local area have improved significantly, yet there is still room for improvement. Any concrete suggestions to improve soft mobility at CERN can be sent to jens.vigen@cern.ch.

And, above all, do not forget to fill in your Bike2Work calendar: EPFL is still ahead of CERN in terms of cycling days and the race is still on!

* A gallery showing the different t-shirt designs over the years can be accessed here.

thortala Thu, 06/22/2023 - 13:25 Publication Date Thu, 06/22/2023 - 13:22

Bike2Work at CERN reaches new heights

When CERN joined the Swiss national “Bike to Work” campaign for the first time back in 2012, we warned you that cycling could become addictive. Eleven years of Bike to Work at CERN have proven us right: for the first time since CERN entered the competition, more than 1000 Cernois have joined a team, thereby committing to cycling at least half of all working days over a period of two months (May and June). This makes CERN, with its 1008 cyclists and 17 817 cycling days registered as of Friday, 16 June, the largest participant in French-speaking Switzerland, challenged only by EPFL (with 913 participants and 18 346 cycling days).

To celebrate this success, the next CERN Critical Mass will take place on 23 June. On this occasion, all CERN cyclists are invited to meet up at Restaurant 2 at 11.45 a.m. for a ride around the Meyrin site starting at 12.00 p.m. and finishing at R1. The event aims to increase the visibility of the cycling community at CERN, with the hope of improving conditions for cyclists. Upon arrival at R1, a group photo will be taken and teams will have the opportunity to take individual photos with large posters featuring each team’s name and logo. Participants are encouraged to wear the very first Bike2Work t-shirt they ever owned. We look forward to finding out how many editions can fit in the same photo, as the CERN Bike2Work t-shirts have become a collector’s item over the years.*

Mobility patterns are changing at CERN. In recent years, the conditions for cycling on the CERN site and in the local area have improved significantly, yet there is still room for improvement. Any concrete suggestions to improve soft mobility at CERN can be sent to jens.vigen@cern.ch.

And, above all, do not forget to fill in your Bike2Work calendar: EPFL is still ahead of CERN in terms of cycling days and the race is still on!

* A gallery showing the different t-shirt designs over the years can be accessed here.

thortala Thu, 06/22/2023 - 13:25 Publication Date Thu, 06/22/2023 - 13:22