LHC meltdown before first collision

摘要

A mechanical failure has shut down the world's largest particle accelerator for at least two months. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a US$4.1-billion machine located at CERN, Europe's particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, will be out of commission possibly until early next year to allow repairs to be made to a section of superconducting cable that is thought to have melted during a test on 19 September, just nine days after the collider circulated its first beams. "We've had better days," says James Gillies, CERN's chief spokesperson.