Background description

The CERN-CZ organizes and promotes the participation of the Czech research community in the international particle physics laboratory CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) in Geneva. The CERN, with the world’s largest collider LHC (Large Hadron Collider), plays the leading role in experiments on the energy frontier. Following one of its principal roles, the CERN also organizes the European research in particle physics. The CERN-CZ aims to support the Czech contribution to  developing, construction, maintenance and operating of  scientific instruments in CERN experiments, including the infrastructure located in the Czech Republic necessary for R&D, detector construction, and for processing data collected by the CERN experiments. The CERN-CZ promotes new technologies for particle physics detectors and their applications and provides the expertise in the area of particle physics instrumentation, in calorimetry, tracking detectors based on semiconductors (including R&D of radiation hard detectors), detector construction, cooling, cryogenics, vacuum, electrical design, mechanical design, and data processing. The portfolio of services covers operating and maintenance of scientific devices, many of them built partially in the Czech Republic; upgrade of existing detectors and construction of new ones; operation of a computer centre, which serves as the national Tier2 centre in the CERN computer network; coordination of CERN projects through the Committee for Cooperation of the Czech Republic with CERN, and representation of the Czech Republic in CERN governing and advisory bodies, Committees and Boards of the CERN Experiments. Unique experimental devices built with the contribution of the Czech research organisations constitute the core of CERN-CZ and they allow the Czech research community to contribute adequately to the world-class results in particle and nuclear physics produced by the CERN experiments.

The research infrastructure is listed in the Roadmap of the Large Infrastructures for Research, Experimental Development and Innovations of the CR (PDF) as Research Infrastructure for Experiments at CERN .