in experiments and other research, it could slow
or complicate upcoming projects involving
the center’s Large Hadron Collider, the world’s
largest and most powerful particle accelerator.
A crucial decision for CERN’s governing council
looms this week because the collider is set to
start operating again in April after a hiatus of
more than three years that partly resulted from
the coronavirus pandemic. The collider requires
regular pauses, and its next run is expected to
generate huge amounts of new data.
“What kind of projects are the Russians involved
here at CERN? It’s essentially in everything that
we are doing,” Joachim Mnich, the director for
research and computing. “We’re in discussions
with the council to find a solution for that:
Punish — as much as possible, as we can do
— the Russian government. But not punishing
our colleagues.”
The next operation of the accelerator, which is
set to churn out new data starting this summer,
will be only the third round of experiments in
the collider: A first run took place from 2010
to 2012, and a second from 2015 to 2018.
The one starting in April is expected to last
until 2026.
On March 8, the CERN Council, its governing
body, joined international condemnation of
the invasion of Ukraine and suspended new
collaborations with Russia and its institutions
indefinitely. It also expressed support for Russian
scientists who “reject this invasion” and stripped
Russia of its observer status.
CERN is run by 22 European countries and Israel
as member states. The United States, Japan
and the European Union have observer status.