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The cryo-assembly containing two MQXFA magnets was delivered to CERN in early December. (Image: CERN) At the beginning of December, CERN received an important shipment. It contained a cryo-assembly of two 4.2-m-long magnets developed by the Accelerator Upgrade Project in the US. These magnets are vital for the high-luminosity upgrade of the LHC (HL-LHC). With coils made from niobium–tin, instead of the niobium–titanium that the LHC currently uses, they will help focus the particle beams to an even smaller spot size at the interaction points of the ATLAS and CMS experiments. This is the first of ten cryo-assemblies that will make the month-long journey from the US. A celebration was held at CERN on Monday, 18 December to commemorate this milestone, bringing people from both sides of the Atlantic together. “In the realm of large scientific endeavours like the HL-LHC, global collaboration and expertise play pivotal roles. The delivery of the first cryo-assembly housing fully validat
The magnet, named MQXFB03, is 7.2 metres in length. It is the first of ten that will be needed for the HL-LHC. (Image: CERN) The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) needs specific types of magnets to tightly control the beams of particles at its collision points. Called final-focusing quadrupoles, these magnets are installed in the LHC’s interaction regions around the experiments. For the high-luminosity upgrade of the LHC (HL-LHC), the final-focusing magnets at ATLAS and CMS will need replacing. Tests at CERN have now confirmed that the quadrupole magnets newly designed to replace them will work. Unlike the LHC magnets, which are made from niobium–titanium (Nb–Ti), the new magnets are made from a more challenging material: niobium–tin (Nb3Sn). “Given the brittleness of Nb3Sn and the fact that its coils are very rigid, assembling Nb3Sn magnets requires close attention,” explains José Miguel Jiménez, head of the Technology department. “This makes it a much bigger challenge than