On today's online version of the highest-diffusion newspaper in Italy, Il Corriere Della Sera (a bit too right-winged for me, but still an important source) stands a piece signed by none less than Carlo Rubbia, Physics Nobel prize in 1984 for the discovery of W and Z bosons. Despite his not so young age any more, Carlo is still extremely active in the field of high-energy physics, where he has moved his interest into neutrino physics.

"The observed exclusion limit is found from the point where the 95% quantile (dotted
line) crosses the median value of the distribution of Q values for the QCD prediction
(dashed line). This occurs at Lambda = 9.5 TeV. The expected limit is Lambda = 5.7 TeV. [...]
As a cross-check, a Bayesian analysis of F(mjj) has been performed, [...]. This analysis sets a 95% credibility level of Lambda > 6.7 TeV. The expected limit from this Bayesian analysis is 5.7 TeV, comparable to the CLs+b expected limit. While the observed limit from CLs+b analysis is significantly higher than the Bayesian results, we have no basis on which to exclude the CLs+b result a posteriori."

This might become the title of a series of posts, much like my "say of the week" series. In fact, the Large Hadron Collider is back in operation since earlier this month, and the instantaneous luminosity at which it collides protons at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is going to keep gradually increasing, as better orbit parameters are found, more protons are injected in the machine, more bunches are made to circulate, and beams are squeezed in the surroundings of the experimental halls.

Still, it feels nice to report that the value of L = 2.4E32 cm^-2 s^-1 has been now achieved, a full 20% more than the highest number recorded in the 2010 running.

My blogging output here is scarce this week, because I am spending my time at the NEUTEL 2011 conference in Venice. I am producing some posts summarizing the talks I hear at the conference, together with a few colleagues. Our blog there will be short-lived, but already collects about 1000 views a day, growing by the day. Here is a selection of recent posts you can find -I only list here those published today or yesterday:

• Art McDonald: Past and Present of Neutrino Oscillations
• Overview of Neutrino Phenomenology