After the initial proton-proton reference run has been completed reasonably smoothly CMS is now really logging Heavy Ion collisions. As usual in those relatively short periods the CMS control room in Meyrin is full of the Heavy Ion folks.
This means that I can find my Heavy Ion colleagues on skype even when I am working ‘late’ like 6pm at MIT. I think they stay most of the nights in the CERN control room when there are issues with the detector or more generally the data taking. Sometimes I envy them for having such an exciting ‘short’ event, when compared to the much more smooth and organized proton-proton collisions.
CERN has gone to ‘Stable Beams’ again and the Heavy Ion collisions are literally lightning up the detector. Let’s go take all the Heavy Ion collisions you can, until the run is up!
