CERN Courier Mar/Apr 2023
Welcome to the digital edition of the March/April 2023 issue of CERN Courier.
Further exploring the boundless efforts of the LHC-experiment collaborations to maximise the scientific output of the High-Luminosity LHC, the ALICE (p35) and LHCb (p22) collaborations set out their plans for major upgrades that are also of strategic interest for future collider experiments. Addressing why extending the study of nature at LHC energies is worth the considerable efforts involved, theorist Veronica Sanz argues that we all should embrace the paths that the Higgs’ discovery has opened (p39), while Leonard Susskind reflects on 20 years of the string-theory landscape (p41).
Shorter term, the pursuit of the biggest questions continues to reap unexpected rewards. Five years since its creation out of efforts to test technologies for CLIC, the CLEAR facility at CERN has allowed groups from more than 30 institutions across more than 10 nations to advance applications ranging from compact X-ray sources to next-generation cancer treatments (p28), while autonomous-vehicle manufacturers are benefitting from CERN’s expertise in machine learning (p9). Translating “big science” into applications is difficult, but, done well, helps companies to fast-track the development of innovative products, services and applications (p31).
All this and more in this issue, including sterile neutrinos (p8), inexplicable photons (p11), meeting reports (p17), reviews (p45), careers (p47) and a new spin on the Stern–Gerlach experiment (p54).