The LHC machine: from beam commissioning to operation and future upgrades

This chapter describes the current status of the LHC. General machine parameters are reviewed and the beam commissioning process is presented, showing the evolution of the machine’s performance over recent years. The highlights of the powerful complex of injectors are described, in order to provide a global picture of the impressive performance of CERN’s flagship machine, which relies on both the astonishing quality of the LHC itself and the incredible flexibility of the injectors. The focus is on proton physics performance, with emphasis on the different possible scenarios leading to an upgrade of the LHC performance. Finally, the prospects for the development of the machine into the far future are briefly discussed.