Nice post! I actually did a summer of research at the LHC a few years ago. While everyone knows the energy of the colliding beams is indeed crucial, less well know is that luminosity is extremely important as well (luminosity is the number of particles in the beam). This is because particles are detected and their properties measured based on the statistical analysis of a huge number of collisions. More collisions = better measurements. Hence, this most recent upgrade is really key in advancing new physics.