CERN Initiates LHC Inner Triplet Removal for 11.3-Tesla Niobium-Tin Upgrade
CERN has started LS3 magnet removal to install stronger niobium-tin inner triplets around ATLAS and CMS. The upgrade promises substantially higher collision rates but carries schedule and production risks across three collaborating regions. Delivery and commissioning thresholds in 2029-2030 will determine whether the high-luminosity physics program begins on schedule.
Looking ahead, successful triplet replacement will raise peak luminosity by a factor of five to seven, enabling precision measurements of Higgs couplings and rare processes that current integrated luminosity cannot reach. The upgrade also sets the technical baseline for any future hadron collider at CERN or elsewhere. Next critical milestones are the first new quadrupole delivery in 2029 and beam commissioning in 2030; failure to meet either would push the high-luminosity era beyond the current decade.
CERN: First new niobium-tin quadrupole cryostat will be lowered into the tunnel by March 2029 or the 2030 physics run will slip by at least one year.
Sources (3)
- [1]Primary Source(https://home.cern/news/news/accelerators/ls3-starts-inner-triplet-replacement)
- [2]Supporting Source(https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.01288)
- [3]Supporting Source(https://inspirehep.net/literature/2054321)