In January 2007 the CERN director general announced the plan for the staged upgrade of the LHC luminosity. The plan foresees a phase 1 upgrade reaching a peak luminosity of $3 \times 10^{ 34}$ cm$^{ -2}$s$^{ -1}$ followed by phase reaching up to $ 10^{ 35}$ cm$^{ -2}$s$^{ -1}$. We discuss the physics potential and the experimental challenges of an upgraded LHC running. The detector R&D needed to operate ATLAS and CMS in a very high radiation environment and the expected detector performance are also discussed.
Categories: hep-ex