CERN Visit

Students of the lectures "Particle Physics 1" and "Detectors for Particle and Astroparticle Physics" were given the opportunity to see the detectors discussed and described in the lectures live on site during the semester that has just come to an end. The destination of the three-day excursion was CERN in Geneva, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.

A group of 40 students set off by bus with Prof. Ferber and Dr. Chwalek to Geneva in Switzerland. After arriving at the CERN site, the first highlight was already on the agenda. In a guided multimedia show, the synchrocyclotron, CERN's first particle accelerator, and CERN's founding history were presented in an entertaining way. Dr. Hartmann then gave an overview of the status of the CMS project, in which the ETP is heavily involved. The participants then rounded off the evening with dinner in the CERN canteen "Restaurant 1".
A packed program awaited the students the next day. First up were visits to LEIR and Linac2 as well as the CERN Data Center. Then it was on to the CERN Science Gateway, which was inaugurated just a few months ago. Inside the futuristic architecture, many exhibits, installations and information awaited the visitors. As the exhibition is aimed more at "the general public", the majority of the Karlsruhe tour group finished the exhibition quite quickly and spent the rest of their lunch time in the CERN souvenir store.
They then took the bus to the CERN Control Center, the Neutrino Platform and the SM18 magnetic test facility.
The eventful and packed day came to a nice end at the Bois Joli restaurant, which offers a picturesque view of the valley above Geneva. Over cheese fondue and wine, it was a great opportunity to discuss the experiences of the last two days.
On the day of departure, however, a real highlight of the CERN trip awaited the participants once again. On the way back to Karlsruhe, the coach made a stop at "Point 5", where the CMS experiment is located.
Divided into several groups and led by the Karlsruhe experts and trained CMS guides Dr. Hartmann, Dr. Butz, Dr. Shvetsov, Dr. Rabbertz and Dr. Hoch, the participants were given the opportunity to get within arm's length of the CMS detector. The elevator took them about 100 meters down into the CMS cavern. Impressed by their encounter with the CMS detector, the tour group then set off on their journey home.