Please note that a new service has been created to manage all requests concerning the supply of gases (supply, use, maintenance services, construction of gas distribution systems).

In this framework, a new gas ordering interface has been added to the CERN Service Portal: Gas request. This interface allows articles to be selected in two different ways: either using search criteria (type of gas or mixture, use, format, etc.) or by entering the SCEM code for the desired article.

All information relating to the order (order accepted, planned delivery date, delivery completed, etc.), as well as any communication with users, will be included in the order ticket.

The progress of the order, from its creation through to the retrieval of empty packaging, will be recorded in and tracked by the Infor EAM management platform.

If you have any technical or administrative questions, please contact David Jaillet (EN-EA): David.Jaillet@cern.ch, tel. 75535.

It takes a lot more than nothing to make a vacuum. The vacuum chambers of the LHC experiments, for example, are complex components, particularly those that are nestled in the heart of the detectors, which come in a variety of shapes and are made of special material. During the second long shutdown, the teams in the vacuum group are therefore hard at work replacing the beam tubes in the ALICE and CMS experiments.

ALICE will install a new inner tracking system (ITS) closer to the beam to improve the detection of short-lived particles. As a consequence, a beam tube with a smaller diameter must be installed to replace the current chamber. “We have developed a chamber 3.8 centimetres in diameter, compared to 5 before, and with a thickness of 0.8 millimetres, which is at the limit of what can be achieved with current technology,” explains Josef Sestak of the vacuum group, who is in charge of the project.

This central vacuum chamber is made of beryllium, a metal that is very light, very resistant and transparent to particles. To put it another way, it lets particles through without intercepting them, a quality essential to ensuring that the experiment can detect all the particles. However, beryllium is a very difficult metal to work with: it comes in the form of a powder that must be compressed at very high pressure to obtain a bar of metal that is then hollowed out. Only a few companies in the world can produce such components from beryllium.

ALICE’s central vacuum chamber, which is around one metre long, has just been tested and validated at CERN, following two years of development in collaboration with a company in the United States. It is now being prepared to receive a coating of non-evaporable getter (NEG), a material that is able to trap residual molecules once it is heated. “The experiments’ vacuum systems rely on this coating because conventional vacuum pumps cannot be installed near to the interaction point as they would disturb physics operations. The nearest vacuum pumps are actually placed at least 10 metres away from the interaction point,” explains Josef Sestak. A similar chamber is under development for CMS, but it is six metres long.

Aside from the central chamber, the vacuum teams are replacing all the peripheral parts of the vacuum chamber in the ALICE and CMS experiments. Stainless steel components will be replaced with aluminium parts, since aluminium displays a much lower induced radioactivity than stainless steel. Eight vacuum chambers of four different types, connected by bellows and other connecting components, must be replaced in CMS. Four spare chambers are also being produced. “Some of these components are conical, with a diameter of 200 millimetres reducing down to 45 millimetres,” explains Josef Sestak. The aluminium used is also special, with the finest grain possible. It must be machined with extreme precision in order to be almost perfectly aligned.

Once they have been validated and treated, the new vacuum chambers for ALICE and CMS will be installed in 2020.

Can fundamental physics keep you warm in winter? Using neurons, maybe? Think bigger! Like some industrial sites, scientific facilities can be used to heat living spaces. CERN is taking the first steps in this direction.

On 26 June, the Laboratory signed an agreement with the French local authorities concerning the collection of heat from its facilities. From 2022 onwards, some of the hot water from the Large Hadron Collider’s (LHC) cooling system at Point 8 will be diverted and made available to the neighbouring commune of Ferney-Voltaire.

“At CERN, many systems and installations (cryogenics, electronics, ventilation, etc.) are cooled using water: cold water is injected into the cooling circuit and the hot water produced is then collected and cooled by cooling towers, before being reinjected into the circuit,” explains Serge Claudet, CERN’s energy coordinator. “The hot water leaving the circuit can reach a temperature of 30°, which is very useful in the context of energy recovery.”

With energy recovery in mind, some of the hot water collected at LHC Point 8 will be diverted to a parallel circuit that will supply the heating system of a new area currently under construction in Ferney-Voltaire (the new zone d’aménagement concerté (urban development zone, ZAC)). Thanks to CERN, up to 8000 people’s homes will be heated at a lower cost and with reduced CO₂ emissions.

“We have performed several studies and discovered that the same could also be done at other points of the LHC,” says Serge Claudet. “Notably, Points 2 and 5 could also provide heating for the neighbouring communes, and we are looking into the possibility of using heat collected at Point 1 to heat the buildings on CERN’s Meyrin site.”

The work on the CERN side to connect Point 8 to the commune of Ferney-Voltaire has already begun and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the second long shutdown. “CERN is handling the construction of the heat recovery circuit up to the boundary of its site,” says Serge Claudet. “Beyond that point, the Communauté d’agglomération du Pays de Gex will take over and will install 2 km of pipes between CERN and the new ZAC.” Initial tests of the heat recovery network will be performed in 2021, with a view to coming into operation in 2022.

Moves are afoot to structure and strengthen the field of astroparticle physics, which sits at the junction between particle physics and astrophysics. On 10 July 2019, CERN and APPEC (the Astroparticle Physics European Consortium) created a new research centre for astroparticle physics theory, EuCAPT (European Centre for Astroparticle Theory), with the aim of coordinating and promoting theoretical physics in the fields of astroparticle physics and cosmology in Europe.  

The centre is led by an international steering committee that comprises 12 theorists from institutes in France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and from CERN. 

For the first five years, CERN will be the central node of this network that brings together a dozen European institutes active in astroparticle physics, with others already having expressed an interest in joining. CERN plans to organise meetings and thematic workshops to advance theory in this field.  

Gianfranco Bertone, the spokesperson of GRAPPA, the centre of excellence in gravitation and astroparticle physics at the University of Amsterdam, is EuCAPT’s inaugural director.

A new collaboration agreement between CERN and ESA, signed on 11 July, will address the challenge of operating in harsh radiation environments, found in both particle-physics facilities and outer space. The agreement concerns radiation environments, technologies and facilities with potential applications in both space systems and particle-physics experiments or accelerators.

This first implementing protocol of CERN-ESA bilateral cooperation covers a broad range of activities, from general aspects like coordination, financing and personnel exchange, to a list of irradiation facilities for joint R&D activities. It also states the willingness of both organisations to support PhD students working on radiation subjects of common interest.

The agreement identifies seven specific projects with high priority: high-energy electron tests; high-penetration heavy-ion tests; assessment of EEE commercial components and modules (COTS); in-orbit technology demonstration; “radiation-hard” and “radiation-tolerant” components and modules; radiation detectors, monitors and dosimeters; and simulation tools for radiation effects.

In some cases, important preliminary results have already been achieved: high-energy electron tests for the JUICE mission were performed in the CLEAR/VESPER facility to simulate the environment of Jupiter. Complex components were also tested with xenon and lead ions in the SPS North Area at CERN for an in-depth analysis of galactic cosmic-ray effects. These activities will continue and the newly identified ones will be implemented under the coordination of the CERN-ESA Committee on Radiation Issues.

As previously announced at the IT Users Meeting (ITUM), the migration of Windows Home Directories* from DFS to CERNBox is planned for 2019.

What does that mean?
The servers storing your data will be replaced.

What does it change for you?
Daily tasks on your Windows computer(s) won’t really change: clicking on the usual shortcuts such as Documents will simply target the new location. 

Why change?
DFS has been used for many years but this storage system no longer answers current mobility needs. More and more we work on multiple devices, both on CERN sites and outside CERN. This is a trend seen globally outside CERN as well, hence the emergence of cloud file stores.

So, responding to these evolving needs, CERNBox will be used to replace DFS to store Windows Home Folders, and to offer new functionalities. And from the data protection perspective, we undertake to support the full spectrum of data classifications.

Finally what’s new?
CERNBox includes many interesting features such as:

• Web access
• Collaborative online editing of documents
• Easy sharing
• Local copy of your files
• Synchronisation available from everywhere over the Internet
• Data available from any kind of device

How will this migration happen?
You will receive an email a few days prior to the migration with a date at which your machine will be targeted to install a CMF package called “DFS to CERNBox Migration”.

You will then be able to launch this package at the moment of your choice on the given date.

The full process requires two restarts and can take up to one hour depending on the size of data you have stored on DFS and your machine configuration.

If the forced migration date does not fit your professional constraints, please contact us on dfs-to-cernbox-migration-supporters@cern.ch to define a more appropriate schedule.

*Home Directories are the default locations for Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, Links, and Favourites.

Migration to Windows 10 is required during 2019 as Microsoft will end support for Windows 7 in January 2020.

Windows 7 was released in July 2009 and is now obsolete. It does not enable you to benefit from recent hardware and security features that are only available in Windows 10.

Windows 10 is already available for deployment at CERN. A migration campaign is starting and all computers with Windows 7 operating system will be targeted for an upgrade over the course of the year. You will receive a notification prior to the upgrade and will have the possibility to manually launch the upgrade at a time of your convenience during the three weeks before it is actually forced.

What is needed for this upgrade and what will happen?

For machines upgrading from a 64-bit version of Windows 7:

• You need 25 GB of free space on your hard disk
• The upgrade requires multiple reboots and usually takes between 45 and 60 minutes
• During migration, the machine can´t be used
• Documents, programs and settings will be preserved
• In case the upgrade process fails the machine will be rolled back to Windows 7 and you will need to perform the Windows 10 installation manually (https://espace.cern.ch/winservices-help/NICEEnvironment/NICEInstallation/Pages/InstallationOfWindowsAtCERN.aspx)
• Internet Explorer is no longer installed by default. You can find it as a CMF package
• If you are ready to upgrade already now:
  • Select the package “MS Windows 10 – upgrade b1809” on https://cmf.web.cern.ch/cmf/ComputerFramework/AddRemove.aspx
  • Launch the upgrade process by clicking on the CMF icon at the bottom right of your screen and selecting ‘Start Now’ in CMF Pending actions

For machines with a 32-bit version of Windows 7 or with less than 25 GB of free space on the hard disk:

• The upgrade procedure won’t work, instead you need a full reinstallation
• You need to manually install Windows 10 from scratch (https://espace.cern.ch/winservices-help/NICEEnvironment/NICEInstallation/Pages/InstallationOfWindowsAtCERN.aspx)

If you use critical applications not installed through CMF, or if you configured dual-boot with another operating system, please check compatibility with Windows 10 with the software vendor. In case of known compatibility issues with Windows 10 or professional constraints requiring to postpone the upgrade, please contact us: w10-feedback@cern.ch.

On 1 July 2019, CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) took over the Presidency of EIROforum from EUROfusion. Fabiola Gianotti, CERN’s Director-General, will chair EIROforum for a one-year period from July 2019 to June 2020.

EIROforum, which was created in 2002, is a consortium that unites eight of Europe’s large intergovernmental research organisations in promoting the quality and impact of European research.

“I am very honoured to take over as  Chair of EIROforum from Tony Donné of EUROfusion, and I will do my best to continue the excellent work done by my predecessors,” says EIROforum’s new Chair, Fabiola Gianotti. “Important activities and initiatives that EIROforum will pursue in the coming year include continuing support and promotion of science, technology, and STEM training and education. We will also seek to strengthen cooperation with the European Commission, establish partnerships with other stakeholders in Europe and beyond, and we’ll be preparing the future of the ATTRACT project and other initiatives for the Horizon Europe programme.”

“By joining forces, each EIROforum member contributes with greater impact to the discussion on future directions of science in Europe,” says previous EIROforum Chair Tony Donné (EUROfusion Programme Manager). “I am sure this impact will continue to be strengthened under CERN’s leadership,” he concludes.

A few millionths of a second after the Big Bang, the universe was so dense and hot that the quarks and gluons that make up protons, neutrons and other hadrons existed freely in what is known as the quark–gluon plasma. The ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) can recreate this plasma in high-energy collisions of beams of heavy ions of lead. However, ALICE, as well as any other collision experiments that can recreate the plasma, cannot observe this state of matter directly. The presence and properties of the plasma can only be deduced from the signatures it leaves on the particles that are produced in the collisions.

In a new article, presented at the ongoing European Physical Society conference on High-Energy Physics, the ALICE collaboration reports the first measurement of one such signature – the elliptic flow – for upsilon particles produced in lead–lead LHC collisions.

The upsilon is a bottomonium particle, consisting of a bottom (often also called beauty) quark and its antiquark. Bottomonia and their charm-quark counterparts, charmonium particles, are excellent probes of the quark–gluon plasma. They are created in the initial stages of a heavy-ion collision and therefore experience the entire evolution of the plasma, from the moment it is produced to the moment it cools down and gives way to a state in which hadrons can form.

One indication that the quark–gluon plasma forms is the collective motion, or flow, of the produced particles. This flow is generated by the expansion of the hot plasma after the collision, and its magnitude depends on several factors, including: the particle type and mass; how central, or “head on”, the collision is; and the momenta of the particles at right angles to the collision line. One type of flow, called elliptic flow, results from the initial elliptic shape of non-central collisions.

In their new study, the ALICE team determined the elliptic flow of the upsilons by observing the pairs of muons (heavier cousins of the electron) into which they transform, or “decay”. They found that the magnitude of the upsilon elliptic flow for a range of momenta and collision centralities is small, making the upsilons the first hadrons that don’t seem to exhibit a significant elliptic flow.

The results are consistent with the prediction that the upsilons are largely split up into their constituent quarks in the early stages of their interaction with the plasma, and they pave the way to higher-precision measurements using data from ALICE’s upgraded detector, which will be able to record ten times more upsilons. Such data should also cast light on the curious case of the J/psi flow. This lighter charmonium particle has a larger flow and is believed to re-form after being split up by the plasma.

Without dark matter, most galaxies in the universe would not hold together. Scientists are pretty sure about this. However, they have not been able to observe dark matter and the particles that comprise it directly. They have only been able to infer its presence through the gravitational pull it exerts on visible matter.

One hypothesis is that dark matter consists of particles that interact with each other and with visible matter through a new force carried by a particle called the dark photon. In a recent study, the collaboration behind the NA64 experiment at CERN describes how it has tried to hunt down such dark photons.

NA64 is a fixed-target experiment. A beam of particles is fired onto a fixed target to look for particles and phenomena produced by collisions between the beam particles and atomic nuclei in the target. Specifically, the experiment uses an electron beam of 100 GeV energy from the Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator. In the new study, the NA64 team looked for dark photons using the missing-energy technique: although dark photons would escape through the NA64 detector unnoticed, they would carry away energy that can be identified by analysing the energy budget of the collisions.

The team analysed data collected in 2016, 2017 and 2018, which together corresponded to a whopping hundred billion electrons hitting the target. They found no evidence of dark photons in the data but their analysis resulted in the most stringent bounds yet on the strength of the interaction between a photon and a dark photon for dark-photon masses between 1 MeV and 0.2 GeV.

These bounds imply that a 1-MeV dark photon would interact with an electron with a force that is at least one hundred thousand times weaker than the electromagnetic force carried by a photon, whereas a 0.2-GeV dark photon would interact with an electron with a force that is at least one thousand times weaker. The collaboration anticipates obtaining even stronger limits with the upgraded detector, which is expected to be completed in 2021.

Due to road works, there will be no access to the fuel pumps on the Meyrin site on 30 July (Tuesday) and 31 July (Wednesday), all day. Access to pumps will be available on the Prévessin site.

Please see the map:

Thank you for your understanding.

X-ray imaging is a widely used technique to image the interior of materials – anyone who has had their teeth or another part of their body X-rayed will be familiar with the images it produces. Less used is neutron imaging, which is better than X-ray imaging in some cases, for example imaging the interior of dense metals. The reason is that neutron beams that are intense enough for imaging are not easy to produce and are available at only a few facilities worldwide.

The n_TOF facility at CERN has two intense neutron beams and normally uses them to study interactions between neutrons and atomic nuclei. However, the facility has recently started to explore the feasibility of also using one of its beams for imaging. And the first results from this exploration look good: imaging of particle-producing targets that have been used or are designed to be used at the neighbouring Antiproton Decelerator (AD) to produce antiprotons (the antiparticles of protons) has shown that the beam can reveal the samples’ internal structure.

Neutron imaging is based on recording the attenuation of a neutron beam as it passes through a sample. The quality of the resulting image depends on several factors, including the energy of the neutrons at the sample’s position and the distance between the sample and the collimator that focuses the beam. Using a commercially available neutron-imaging camera, the n_TOF researchers set up a neutron-imaging station at n_TOF and analysed some of these factors. They then set out to test the imaging station with five antiproton-producing targets: two targets from the AD, which produces antiprotons by taking an intense proton beam from the Proton Synchrotron accelerator and firing it into a target made of dense metal; and three potential new targets for the AD that had previously been tested at the HiRadMat facility.

One of the two AD targets was a spare, never used, whereas the other AD target and the three HiRadMat targets had been subjected to intense proton beams that could have damaged them. The n_TOF imaging of the targets showed their internal structure with good contrast and, in the case of the targets that had been exposed to proton beams, revealed deformation, bending or cracking of their interior. For two of the targets, the damage observed was confirmed by opening the target, and for one of these targets the damage was also confirmed by imaging at a neutron-imaging station at the Paul Scherrer Institute.

The results served two purposes: they demonstrated the feasibility of using n_TOF’s neutron beam for imaging and they offered two-dimensional images of the inside of the antiproton-producing targets that would otherwise have been more difficult to obtain. Conventional imaging techniques such as X-ray imaging cannot penetrate the dense metals from which the targets are made to reveal their internal state and, if they were to be imaged with specialised imaging facilities outside of CERN, the targets would need to be transported and subjected to inspection before being handled.

The next steps towards developing a full-fledged imaging station at n_TOF include improving the collimation system, which would lead to higher-resolution images, and adding equipment that would allow three-dimensional rather than two-dimensional images to be obtained.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has published the 12th edition of its Global Innovation Index. This year’s report, published on 24 July in India, is centred on medical innovation. CERN contributed a chapter entitled ‘How Particle Physics Research at CERN contributed to Medical Innovation’. The chapter highlights success stories and challenges of knowledge transfer from fundamental research to medical technologies, and how this process happens at CERN.

In healthcare, many state-of-the-art technologies were initially developed for fundamental research at institutions like CERN: radiotherapy devices deliver cancer treatment by means of particle accelerators, while PET scanners contain photon detectors. In particle-physics laboratories, innovative technologies are developed and fine-tuned to meet exacting research specifications. For them to drive innovation in the medical field, partnerships that bridge the gap between R&D and its application are often needed, as are effective dialogue with all relevant players, beneficial intellectual property (IP) policies and other knowledge-transfer strategies. CERN’s contribution to the GII 2019 looks at these strategies and reflects on how they affect knowledge transfer at CERN.

You can read the report by visiting https://globalinnovationindex.org/gii-2019-report.

Fires caused by lithium batteries sporadically make the news, and CERN is not immune from this phenomenon. CERN has experienced several fires caused by a lithium battery in the course of being charged. The subsequent investigations revealed lessons for all of us.

Lithium-ion or lithium-polymer batteries are typically used in electric cars, e-bikes, computers and other power-operated equipment as well as smartphones or e-cigarettes. Even when they’re small these batteries are miniature power plants.

Here are some precautions to bear in mind in order to minimise the fire risk from the use of these batteries:

Things you should do:

• Use according to the manufacturer’s instructions
  Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions precisely!
   
• Use safe batteries
  Make sure your batteries are safe: regularly check the condition (damage, deformation, leakage…) of the battery and immediately replace any damaged battery.
   
• Use a suitable charger
  Use the charger supplied with the battery. It is designed to monitor the charge and avoid overcharging. If the original charger is not available, you may also use a CE certified charger approved for the particular device.
   
• Charge under supervision
  Supervise the charging of your batteries, in particular for powerful ones like e-bikes batteries, for example.
   
• Remove battery from device
  Where batteries are designed to be removed for charging, always remove the batteries from the device before charging.
   
• Unplug
  Unplug the charger once the battery is charged.
   
• Dispose safely
  When not in use leave your batteries, in particular powerful ones, in a fire-proof cupboard or bag, if possible. Batteries are hazardous waste that must be disposed of following the appropriate procedures: https://smb-dep.web.cern.ch/en/Waste/What_goes_where#Batteries. As batteries are never fully discharged it is recommended to seal the electrical poles with tape and/or put them in fire-proof bags prior to disposal.

Things you should avoid:

• Charge under high temperatures
  Don’t charge a battery when the ambient temperature is above 35 °C.
   
• Charge close to combustible materials or hazardous substances
  Do not charge batteries close to combustible materials or hazardous substances (chemicals, explosives…). Avoid charging underground if possible.

Immediate actions you should take in case of overheating or fire

In the event your battery is overheating, swelling, melting, emitting smoke or a clacking sound evacuate the premises, close the door, warn your colleagues and call the CERN fire brigade at 74444 or +41 22 767 4444.

Dig, dig, dig. One hundred metres underground, excavation work is under way for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider project. This next-generation LHC, which will begin operation in 2026, will reach luminosities five to ten times higher than its predecessor. This increased number of collisions will increase the chances of observing rare processes.

The worksites are Point 1 of the LHC in Meyrin (Switzerland), where the ATLAS experiment is located, and Point 5 in Cessy (France), which houses the CMS experiment. Following the excavation of two shafts around sixty metres deep in January, two underground halls and over a kilometre of technical galleries must now be dug. 

At the surface, ten buildings, five on each site, will be built in the coming months, to house electrical, ventilation and cooling equipment. The work began in 2018 and should be completed in 2022.

On 14 and 15 September, more than 150 activities will be offered to the 80 000 visitors expected on our sites. Volunteers will be the key to the success of this exceptional event. More than 2400 volunteers have already signed-up but we still need another 500 to fill the many roles that remain open.

Whether you are a member of CERN personnel, contractor’s personnel or Honorary Staff, everyone will have a role to play! The role assignments have already started. Instructions and other practical information can be found on cern.ch/od2019/volunteers.

In August 1959, when CERN was just five years old, and the Proton Synchrotron was preparing for beams, Director-General Cornelis Bakker founded a new periodical to inform staff what was going on. It was just eight pages long with a print run of 1000, but already a section called “Other people’s atoms” reported news from other labs.

The CERN Courier has since transformed into an international magazine of around 40 pages with a circulation of 22 000 print copies, covering the global high-energy physics scene. Its website, which receives about 30 000 monthly views, was relaunched this month and provides up-to-date news from the field.

To celebrate its diamond jubilee, a feature in the latest issue reveals several gems from past editions and shows the ever-present challenges of predicting the next discovery in fundamental research.

You can peruse the full archive of all CERN Courier issues via the CERN Document Server.

CERN theorist Sergio Ferrara has been awarded the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, alongside Daniel Z. Freedman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University and Peter van Nieuwenhuizen of Stony Brook University. The trio is recognised for their 1976 invention of the theory of supergravity, which combines Einstein’s theory of general relativity with a theory called supersymmetry.

“This award comes as a complete surprise,” says Ferrara. “Supergravity is an amazing thing because it extends general relativity to a higher symmetry – the dream of Einstein – but none of us expected this.”

Ferrara, Freedman and Nieuwenhuizen invented supergravity soon after the discovery of supersymmetry, an extension of the Standard Model of particle physics. Developed in the 1960s and early 70s, the Standard Model describes all known particles and has since been confirmed by experiments. However, it was clear from the beginning that the model is incomplete. Among other features, it cannot explain dark matter and it doesn’t include gravity, which is described by Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

Supersymmetry offered a way to fill some of the gaps in the model by giving each fermion and boson in the Standard Model a “superpartner”: fermions would be accompanied by superpartner bosons whereas bosons would have superpartner fermions. But supersymmetry doesn’t include gravity, and this is exactly what Ferrara, Freedman and van Nieuwenhuizen set out to fix.

Ferrara, who was a CERN fellow from 1973 to 1975 and a CERN staff member since the 1980s, started discussing the problem with Freedman at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1975 and then teamed up with van Nieuwenhuizen at Stony Brook University. The three theorists conducted a series of calculations on a state-of-the-art computer that resulted in a supersymmetric theory that included the “gravitino”, a superpartner fermion to a hypothetical boson that mediates gravity called the graviton. This theory of supergravity was described in a paper that the trio published in 1976, and has since had a powerful impact on theoretical physics, including providing a basis for the still-continuing effort to develop a full theory of quantum gravity.
 
The $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics can be awarded at any time and unlike the annual Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is not limited to recent discoveries. Previous recipients include Stephen Hawking, seven CERN scientists who led the effort to discover the Higgs boson at CERN, the entire LIGO collaboration that detected gravitational waves, and Jocelyn Bell Burnell for the discovery of pulsars.

Ferrara, Freedman and van Nieuwenhuizen will receive their prize at a ceremony at NASA’s Hangar 1 on 3 November, where the winners of the annual Fundamental Physics prize and of the Breakthrough Prizes in Life Sciences and Mathematics will also be honoured.

See also the CERN Courier article.

Maritime traffic is the single largest contributor to air pollution – a single cruise ship emits as much pollution as one million cars. Several technologies are being explored to reduce the pollutants in the exhausts of ships’ diesel engines. Accelerator scientists have proposed a solution that involves breaking down particulate matter as well as molecules of sulphur and nitrogen oxides with an electron-beam accelerator of a few hundred kilovolts, before safely extracting them using water. The ARIES (Accelerator Research and Innovation for European Science and Society) Horizon 2020 project, coordinated by CERN, is working on a real-scale test of this technology.

A first test was performed recently on an old and rusty Soviet-era Latvian tugboat named Orkāns (“storm” in Latvian), moored at the Riga shipyard on the Baltic Sea. The small vessel, procured by the Riga Technical University in Latvia, has an old but powerful engine that could easily be made available for the duration of the tests.

A long pipe, equipped with several detectors, connected the tugboat to an accelerator-on-a-truck that was provided by the Fraunhofer FEP of Dresden in Germany. On the truck, the exhausts were treated in a specially built chamber, with the electrons from the accelerator inducing molecular excitation, ionisation and dissociation to break down the pollutant molecules. Before finally being released into the air, the pollutants from the exhausts were washed out using water in a small “wet scrubber”, designed and built by the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology (INCT) of Warsaw in Poland, who originally proposed this novel accelerator-based approach.

This long pipe actually connects two worlds, the world of shipping and the world of scientific particle accelerators. Their technologies and their languages are entirely different, but if we succeed in having them working together, we have the potential for a great advance.

– Test supervisor Toms Torims, Riga Technical University

The first measurements confirmed the expected reduction in pollutants. The final results will be made available only after a full analysis has been carried out at different engine powers and operating conditions. The data collected by this experiment will be used to finalise the proposal for the next step in the progress of this technology. A dedicated project will be submitted to Horizon 2020, with the goal of installing and testing a specially designed accelerator on a real cargo ship, to be made available by the Italian Grimaldi shipping company.

Read the full story in the latest issue of Accelerating News: https://acceleratingnews.web.cern.ch/article/bringing-particle-accelerators-ships

1. Make sure you drink lots of water
2. Keep windows and shutters closed during the day where possible to keep the heat out
3. Wear loose-fitting, light-coloured clothing
4. Eat appropriately – fresh fruit, salads and vegetables are good choices
5. Avoid strenous exercise in the heat of the day