New Delay at the LHC and More Questions for the Tevatron

Looks like the LHC will not run at 10 TeV as originally anticipated during this run. It will continue at 7 TeV through 2011, and then go on a year-long repair hiatus with the hope of ramping to its maximum design energy when it gets back in 2012.

Strangely enough, those working at the Tevatron aren't gung-ho on trying to push for the Tevatron to run on into 2012.

Curiously, though, Fermilab physicists did not immediately clamor to run their 27-year-old Tevatron collider for an extra year through 2012. That contrasts to last year, when in response to a delay to the LHC, Fermilab scientists pushed hard to run the Tevatron through 2011, a move the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) supports (Science, 20 February 2009, p. 993). This time, Fermilab physicists say an extra year's worth of data might not be worth the expense. "It's not like we're rushing out and saying ‘We want to run in 2012!’" says Fermilab's Dmitri Denisov, co-spokesperson for the 510-member team working with the D0 particle detector. "But we want to keep the possibility open."

Even at 7 TeV, there's plenty of physics to be done at the LHC. Already there are indications that they are seeing a few unexpected things. So there's plenty to be done in the next couple of years at this energy scale.

Zz.