Safety Policy Committee

Short-baseline (concerning neutrino experiments)

not "Secretariat", except when referring to a specific secretariat, e.g. the Council Secretariat

use hyphen

Preferable to colloquium in web texts. We're writing in English, not Latin.

Single-Event Upset

no hyphen

In 2013, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will start its first long shutdown for maintenance.

Do not confuse the noun with the phrasal verb:

The research project was shut down due to lack of funding.

Number, no hyphen (except as a compound adjective), lower case "s"

Particle physicists describe the certainty of a result on a scale that goes up to 5 sigma. One sigma could be a random statistical fluctuation in the data, 3 sigma counts as evidence, but only a full 5-sigma result is a discovery. By definition, the probability that a 5-sigma result is wrong is less than one in a million.

1 sigma

3 sigma

5 sigma, etc. 

The certainty of the result was given as 3 sigma.

Shift Leader in Matters of Safety

Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Spell out in first use then use acronym for the CERN Courier

use ndash

Stanford Positron Electron Asymmetric Rings (SLAC)

Acronym doesn’t need spelling out for the CERN Courier

Superconducting Proton Linac

Super Proton Synchrotron

Acronym doesn't need spelling out for the CERN Courier

Caps when referring to the theory of particle physics.

The Standard Model is a theory that describes particle physics. The MacBook is a standard model of computer.

Add a hyphen when using the term as a compound adjective: 

The results of the experiment were consistent with Standard-Model predictions.

Avoid abbreviating Standard Model to SM. It’s irritating to the reader to have to check back on unnecessary abbreviations.