Scientific Integrity Concerns Raised Over CERN's $16 Billion Trigger System at International Conference
The Crosetto Foundation has revealed evidence that CERN's $16 billion FPGA-based trigger system cannot meet technical requirements for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider, calling for funding suspension until scientific questions are resolved.
Evidence presented at the IEEE-NSS-MIC-RTSD 2025 Conference in Yokohama has revealed fundamental technical deficiencies in CERN's 20-trillion-transistor CMS FPGA-based Level-1 Trigger system, raising concerns about the potential waste of over $16 billion in taxpayer funds. The system, built for data selection at the 2026-2036 High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider, appears incapable of performing the required number of operations on data arriving every 25 nanoseconds to filter 8 billion events per second without data loss.
During the conference attended by over 1,500 scientists, multiple speakers representing CERN's CMS and ATLAS collaborations were unable to specify how many basic operations the FPGA system can execute per dataset or provide technical proof that it can efficiently perform Level-2 trigger algorithms at Level-1. Despite claims of functionality, researchers failed to support these assertions with verifiable, reproducible calculations or simulation evidence. Technical documentation distributed to conference participants (https://bit.ly/437YX7H) highlights the central scientific question regarding the system's effectiveness.
The financial implications are substantial, with more than $4 billion already spent and over $12 billion projected to be wasted in the next decade on a system that may not meet HL-LHC requirements. This situation echoes previous CERN missteps including the AXIAL-PET project in 2010, the 2011 claim that neutrinos travel faster than light, and the 2018 WPET full-body wearable imaging coat weighing over 350 kg, though the current trigger system issue represents a significantly larger financial and scientific concern.
The Crosetto Foundation for the Reduction of Cancer Deaths is calling for immediate action, requesting that the European Parliament, national science funding agencies, and media organizations worldwide freeze additional funding until scientific questions are resolved. Over 800 million potential readers have access to documentation through more than 5,000 published articles and communications (https://bit.ly/3HtisQv), amplifying the call for transparency.
A formal request (https://bit.ly/4nJRsvc) has been submitted to conference organizers and field leaders to convene a transparent technical workshop comparing the CERN FPGA system against the proven 3D-Flow alternative. The 3D-Flow architecture, recognized as a breakthrough in 1993, has demonstrated capability to perform 2,400 operations per dataset at approximately $13 per channel or 9,600 operations per dataset at about $54 per channel when implemented on an ATCA board, with detailed specifications available (https://bit.ly/4qKVar8).
The distribution of technical evidence to over 1,200 conference participants generated multiple supportive remarks, including encouragement to continue telling the truth about the system's limitations. Scientists supporting the current FPGA approach are now invited to defend their claims through open dialogue and simulation-based comparison in what could determine the future of high-energy physics research funding and scientific integrity standards.