Reinsertion of the LHCb VELO
In November 2023, LHCb had the opportunity to remove the LHCb VELO (Vertex Locator, allowing precision vertex reconstruction for short-lived particle decays). Soon after, the successful replacement of the VELO RF foils (damaged in a vacuum incident, early 2023) took place. Liverpool was responsible for the removal of the VELO and assisted with the de-cabling and foil removal.
On January 29th and 30th, Liverpool engineer Kieran Bridges led the reinsertion of the VELO in the LHCb cavern (see photos). The installation went smoothly, all electronics have been re-cabled, and LHCb is now recommissioning the detector. The successful removal, repair, and reinstallation of the VELO will enable LHCb to perform the best possible precision physics with our complete detector over the next two years.