Injecting new life into the LHC


The Large Hadron Collider includes an intricate system of accelerators and boosters that take protons and lead ions and gradually increase their energy (measured in electron volts) so that when they enter the main LHC ring they are travelling at a tiny fraction of a percent below the speed of light.

If the main LHC ring is to carry ten times as many protons after upgrade work then the injector system, some of which is more than fifty years old, will need a major overhaul, says Gijsbert de Rijk at CERN . This work falls under the sLHC project.

Use the diagram to the left to find out more about the changes that must be made to the LHC and to each component of the injector system.

The new (and old) injector system