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Data are the currency of physics. As data accumulate, measurement uncertainty ranges narrow up to a certain point, increasing the potential for discoveries and making non-observations more stringent, with more far-reaching consequences. In collider physics, the amount of data is measured by the total number of collisions observed, and the rate of those collisions (the luminosity).

CERN today kicked off the High Luminosity LHC study with a workshop bringing together scientists and engineers from some 14 European institutions, supported through the European Commission’s seventh Framework programme (FP7), along with others from Japan and the USA. The goal is to prepare the ground for an LHC luminosity upgrade scheduled for around 2020.

Modern astronomy paints a vivid picture of the universe having been born in a cataclysmic bang and filled with exotic stars ranging from gargantuan red supergiants that span the size of a modest solar system to hyperdense white dwarf stars and black holes that are smaller than Earth. These discoveries are all the more remarkable because astronomers infer them from the faintest glimmers of light, sometimes just a handful of photons