An LHC cryomagnet. Image courtesy of CERN.
One of the most delicate and exacting parts of bringing the Large Hadron Collider into full operation is cooling the magnets in its 27-kilometer ring to a temperature of 1.9 degrees Kelvin. That's colder than deep space, according to this engaging account of the cooldown process by BBC News:
No particle physics facility on this scale has ever operated at such low temperatures. But, so far, the hardware was performing as predicted, Roberto Saban explained.
"We have a very systematic process for the commissioning of this machine, based on very carefully designed procedures prepared with experience we have gathered on prototypes."
He added: "Our motto is: no short cuts... exchanging a single component which today is cold, is like bringing it back from the Moon. It takes about three to four weeks to warm it up. Then it takes one or two weeks to exchange. Then it needs three to six weeks to cool down again.
"So, you see, it is three months if we make a mistake."
