Introduction to CMS at the LHC

Over 100 participants convened at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for the 2025 CMS Data Analysis School, an intensive program dedicated to preparing the next generation of physicists for work on the CMS experiment at CERN. Hosted by the LHC Physics Center at Fermilab, the week-long event included lectures, hands-on exercises and collaborative analysis projects designed to enhance participants’ expertise in particle physics data analysis.

A key milestone in the U.S.-funded upgrade to the CMS experiment was achieved with the successful delivery of a 5-meter-long carbon support tube to CERN. Designed and built at Purdue University, the tube will house new inner particle detectors for CMS, which is being prepared for the high-luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider. The CMS collaboration is composed of scientists from roughly 240 institutions spread across more than 50 countries.

Physicists on the CMS experiment announce the most elaborate mass measurement of a particle that is notoriously difficult to study and has captivated the physics community for decades.