CERN has strong partnerships and collaborations with laboratories and research infrastructures in the Member States. One recent example saw superconducting magnets for the future FAIR facility at Germany’s GSI laboratory being tested at CERN

Sector 4-5 of the LHC has now been cooled with superfluid helium to a temperature of 1.9 K (−271.3 °C)

The final pressure test in the LHC took place in sector 6-7 on 27 October. The pressure tests are the last step before the cooling of each sector

At LHC Point 4, a refrigerator that cools helium from room temperature to 4.5 K (-268.65 °C) has undergone major improvements in preparation for the HL-LHC

For a service whose work is usually very much focused on the physical installations, telework offers a chance to rethink its activities

Novel cryostat units have been installed for the High-Luminosity LHC to allow insertion of room-temperature collimators in the LHC’s 1.9 K cryostats

Improvements to the cryogenics infrastructure will more than double the liquid helium production capacity of SM18

All the links in the LHC’s cryogenic chain are being examined with a fine-tooth comb in order to detect and correct any issues

The re-filling of the arcs with liquid helium started last week, and the LHC is gradually being prepared for electrical tests at the end of the month