Today, for the first time in two years, both proton beams are circulating again in the LHC. The picture shows the LHC operators steering the two beams. The proton beam already traversed the LHCb detector one month ago and then continued through one quarter of the LHC circumference, see 7 March 2015 news.
The two month period of re-commissioning with beam starts now. The LHC magnets are already “trained” to accept the high current needed to produce the magnetic field necessary to hold the protons in their orbit with a record energy of 6.5 TeV inside the LHC ring. Therefore the prospects for reaching the proton-proton collision energy of 13 TeV at run 2 are very good.
The LHCb detector and its data acquisition system are ready to take data at this highest proton-proton collision energy. LHCb physicists still continue to analyse the run 1 data obtaining exciting results, many of which have been reported on this website. They are looking forward to the first 13 TeV collisions that are expected in June and are convinced that a bright and exciting future lies ahead.
Read more in the CERN Press Release in English and French and see the video from the LHC restart.