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Join CERN in a historic week for particle physics

Tune in to celebrate ten years of Higgs research at the LHC with CERN on 3 and 4 July. If your hunger for physics hasn’t been satiated, stay to witness the start of Run 3 at the LHC on 5 July

20 June, 2022

By Thomas Hortala

LHC dipole magnets in the tunnel — The Large Hadron Collider is set to break a new energy world-record on 5 July (Image: CERN)

CERN is set for jam-packed, exciting and ecstatic days starting on 3 July with the first celebrations of the ten-year anniversary of the discovery of the Higgs boson, a scientific symposium on 4 July and ending on a high note on 5 July, with collisions at unprecedented energy levels at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) marking the launch of the new physics season at CERN’s flagship accelerator. Be it physically at CERN or online from around the world, we invite you to join us in celebrating past and present achievements for particle physics and science, as well as looking ahead to how CERN is preparing future research.

Marking the anniversary of the discovery of the Higgs boson

Ten years ago, on 4 July 2012, a packed CERN Auditorium watched the ATLAS and CMS collaborations present compelling evidence for the discovery of the Higgs boson, thus confirming the existence of the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism, first predicted by theorists in the 1960s. The subsequent 10 years have seen impressive advances in our understanding of the Higgs boson's properties, and how they determine the features of the universe. There is much more still to be learned. On 3 and 4 July 2022, we look back at where a decade of Higgs science has brought the field and look forward to exciting new prospects.

A special evening is planned at the Globe of Science and Innovation, on 3 July, at 5 p.m. After a discussion with Mark Levinson, film Director, and Walter Murch, film editor and Academy Awards Oscar winner, you are invited to watch their documentary “Particle Fever”, which follows particle physicists on their hunt for the Higgs boson. The screening will be followed by a discussion with CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti and other CERN characters in the movie. Registration is needed to reserve a seat inside the Globe. A live webcast of both the film and discussion will be available online and screened outside the Globe.

The most scientifically oriented amongst you will without a doubt enjoy the centrepiece of the celebrations surrounding the anniversary of this historical discovery: a full-day (9.00 a.m.–6.00 p.m.) scientific symposium from CERN’s main auditorium on 4 July. Eminent speakers, ranging from CERN Director-Generals to theorists, will share their recollections of the discovery, look at what’s been learned since, present the latest results and take a look ahead at what’s still to come.

Remote attendance from around the world is possible as the full symposium will be webcast with live English captions. The morning session will also be webcast in French.

Follow the start of a new season of physics data-taking live

No time will be wasted to make the promises of a bright future for Higgs research a reality: the day after the celebrations, the LHC, which restarted on April 2022, will reach a new energy world-record of 13.6 trillion electronvolts (13.6 TeV) in stable-beam collisions, marking the start of data-taking for the new physics season, called Run 3. The event, which will be streamed live on multiple platforms, is the culmination of more than three years of work to push the performances of the collider and its four main detectors to their limit. The larger and higher-quality data samples collected by the LHC experiments will allow scientists to continue stress-testing the Standard Model of Particle Physics, further understand the properties of the Higgs boson and advance in cracking some of the outstanding mysteries of the universe.

(Video: CERN)

The start of Run 3 of the LHC will be streamed live on CERN’s social media channels and high quality Eurovision satellite link on 5 July starting at 4 p.m.. Live commentary in five languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish) from the CERN Control Centre will walk you through the stages that take proton beams from their injection into the LHC to the collision points. A live Q&A session with experts from the accelerators and experiments, and questions from the audience, will conclude the livestream.

While biding your time until the excitement starts, browse our article series on the history of Higgs research, from the theorisation of the Higgs boson in 1964 to its discovery and beyond. New articles coming up!

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