Noémi Béni, a research associate at the HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research, has once again been recognised as one of the awardees of the CERN CMS collaboration. This award is given to those who have made the most significant contributions to CERN's achievements through their outstanding work and dedication. Noémi Béni's work plays a crucial role in ensuring the safe operation of the world's largest particle accelerator.
Noémi Béni, a research associate at the HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI), has been working at CERN for 15 years. She received the 2023 CERN CMS Award for her excellent work in the survey team. According to the citation, her high-quality work, engagement, and flexibility ensured the commissioning of many parts of the CMS, the safe opening and closing of the detector, and a precise knowledge of the position of all its components, guaranteeing the reliability of the experiments and measurements conducted there.
"The CMS detector consists of extremely heavy main units, each weighing around a thousand tonnes. To access the internal components during major shutdowns, these units must be opened and then closed once the work is complete. This process needs to be carried out with millimetre precision, while continuously monitoring the position of these large elements. This is crucial not only to prevent collisions between the massive components but also to avoid unexpected movements when the detector magnet is activated. The precise positioning of the detector elements is essential for accurately measuring the particles ejected during proton-proton collisions," explained the researcher in response to a question from HUN-REN. She added that she is very pleased the CMS collaboration recognises her work on the detector. "An award like this reinforces one's confidence in their work and serves as motivation." In the coming period, Noémi Béni and her colleagues will focus on the internal positioning of position-sensitive detectors to be installed during the detector's shutdown period.
The joint contribution of ATOMKI and the University of Debrecen was the development and installation of the CMS detector's positioning system more than 15 years ago—a system that still functions excellently today, thanks in part to Noémi Béni's work on the detector.
At the award ceremony held at CERN, the Chair of the CMS Award Committee emphasised: “The success of the CMS experiment depends on its collaborators and on their commitment. The CMS awards celebrate this year the hard work that was done by our collaborators both on the operations and on the upgrades to ensure the success of the present and future detector.”