Dear Colleagues, dear Members of the EP Department and CERN Users,

Your are reading the first EP newsletter of 2017. This year will be another “production” year for LHC and the experiments. This means we will attempt to collect as much data as possible at the present energy of 13 TeV. The LHC will restart stronger than ever with intensity restriction from last year removed, e.g. there is a new internal beam dump in the SPS. The extended shutdown went very well for the machine and for the experiments. The new pixel detector for CMS experiment is in its place and the other detector upgrades or preparations for future upgrades in ATLAS, LHCb and ALICE have also been completed successfully. All signs are on green for the restart.

In 2017 we will also take more data with improved experiments at the antiproton decelerator for another exciting year and first ever measurements. On this topic I advise you to read the article on the first spectroscopy measurement done on anti-hydrogen by ALPHA. The ISOLDE facility is commissioning the 3rd cryomodule for post acceleration of isotopes, which will give this community another boost for new physics experiments. And, by the way, you have heard of ATLAS, CMS, LHCb and ALICE, but do you know MoEDAL? Yes, it is another (small) LHC experiment. You may read about this experiment and a lot more in this newsletter.

At the bottom of the newsletter you will find (as always) short portraits of new staff and fellows who joined the EP department recently. In case you meet them on the corridor or in the cafeteria have a chat with them. Remember, we are a laboratory that is proud of its interactions!

Manfred Krammer

EP Department Head