CERN Courier Mar/Apr 2022
Welcome to the digital edition of the March/April 2022 issue of CERN Courier.
A new ground-based observatory, CMB-S4, will study the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background in unprecedented detail (p34). Among its science goals are to constrain models of inflation (the theme of this issue’s cryptic cover) and other fundamental phenomena such as the possible existence of light-relic particles beyond the Standard Model (p27). Along with missions such as the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope (p7), CMB-S4 shows the increasingly fruitful interaction between fundamental physics, cosmology, astrophysics and astronomy to address open questions linking the largest and smallest scales.
In the collider world, the restart of Linac4 on 9 February lights the fuse for the start of LHC Run 3 in June (p8). The rich physics programme ahead owes thanks in part to extensive works completed during Long Shutdown 2, including a major programme by the CERN vacuum group (p39). Progress also continues apace for the superconducting RF “crab” cavities for the High-Luminosity LHC (p45). Meanwhile, in the US, Run 22 of the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider is stress-testing technologies for the future Electron–Ion Collider (p9).
Also in the issue: ATLAS and CMS close in on the Higgs’ self-coupling (p17); basic science for sustainable development (p51); a teaching career (p59); the latest meeting reports (p21); news in brief (p15); reviews (p57); and bison (p66).