Discovery Machines
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DISCOVERY MACHINES CERN operates a unique complex of eight accelerators and one decelerator. The accelerators speed particles up to almost the speed of light before colliding them with each other or launching them at targets. Detectors record what happens during these collisions, and all the data collected is stored and analysed using a worldwide computing grid. Hundreds of physicists, engineers and technicians contribute to the operation and maintenance of these sophisticated machines. The LHC performed remarkably in 2016, delivering far more collisions than expected. (CERN-GE-1101021-08) 20 | CERN 2011: 6 fb-1 2012: 23 fb-1 2015: 4 fb-1 2016: 40 fb-1 7 and 8 TeV runs 13 TeV runs LHC operators at the controls in July 2016. Above, the amount of data delivered by the LHC to the ATLAS (CERN-PHOTO-201607-171-3) and CMS experiments over the course of its proton runs. These quantities are expressed in terms of integrated luminosity, which refers to the number of potential collisions during a given period. LARGE HADRON COLLIDER IN FULL SWING 2016 was an exceptional year for the Large Hadron Collider magnet, which injects the particle bunches into the machine, (LHC). In its second year of running at a collision energy of limited the number of particles per bunch. 13 teraelectronvolts (TeV), the accelerator’s performance exceeded expectations. In spite of these interruptions, the performance of the machines was excellent. Numerous adjustments had been The LHC produced more than 6.5 million billion collisions made to all systems over the previous two years to improve during the proton run from April to the end of October, their availability. The cryogenics system, for example, which almost 60% more than originally anticipated. It delivered to cools the accelerator to - 271°C, achieved 98% availability. the two major experiments, ATLAS and CMS, an integrated luminosity of almost 40 inverse femtobarns, compared with Adjusting the operational parameters of the LHC and its the target of 25. Luminosity, which measures the number of injectors also resulted in an increase in luminosity. The way potential collisions per surface unit in a given time period, is in which particle bunches are assembled in the injectors was a crucial indicator of an accelerator’s performance. improved (see p. 22) and the beam crossing angle at the point of collision was reduced. These two parameters made The impressive availability of the LHC and its injectors it possible to achieve an average of 25 collisions per bunch was one of the keys to this success. The LHC was in crossing, compared to 14 in 2015. operation 75% of the time during the physics run (25% for beam commissioning and preparation and 50% providing The result of these optimisation efforts was a new record, collisions for the experiments, compared with 33% in 2015). which the operations teams celebrated on 26 June: the LHC What makes this performance so remarkable is that the surpassed the nominal peak luminosity of 1034cm-2s-1 defined LHC is such a complex machine, relying on a chain of four when the machine was designed 20 years ago. This nominal accelerators and thousands of items of equipment. value was subsequently surpassed repeatedly throughout the year, by as much as 40%. The start-up of the machine was, moreover, hampered by several incidents. An incident at the end of April involving The LHC thus provided 153 days of physics, several of a transformer stopped the supply of electricity to the which were dedicated to running with de-squeezed beams accelerator for one week. Then, the supply system of the for the forward experiments TOTEM and ATLAS/ALFA. Proton Synchrotron (PS), the third link in the injector chain, On 5 December, the last particles circulated in the machine was damaged. Furthermore, a vacuum leak in the beam before the technical stop. The first few days of the stop were dump of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), the fourth devoted to magnet training in two of the machine’s eight injector, restricted the quantity of particles that could be sectors, with a view to reaching a collision energy of 14 TeV. injected throughout the run. The number of proton bunches Using the results of this training campaign, the LHC teams per beam had to be limited to 2220, compared with the 2808 will investigate the possibility of increasing the LHC’s energy protons per bunch planned. Finally, a fault in an LHC kicker during Run 3, which is scheduled to start in 2021. 2016 | 21 The TOTEM spokesperson in front of one of the experiment’s A new SPS beam dump was designed and built in just a few detectors in the LHC tunnel, not far from the CMS detector. A months for installation in the accelerator during the extended year- special LHC run was provided for TOTEM and ATLAS/ALFA, with end technical stop. (CERN-PHO-201704-084-15) the beams as de-squeezed as possible. TOTEM upgraded its detectors in 2016. (CERN-PHOTO-201609-210-1) ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND periods were exceptionally long. This performance is particularly noteworthy because colliding protons with lead ions, which have a mass around 206 times greater and a On 10 November, the LHC started colliding protons with charge 82 times higher than protons, requires numerous the nuclei of lead atoms – the second run of this kind to painstaking adjustments to the machine. The LHC was able take place since 2013. This time, the collisions reached to rely on a chain of highly efficient injectors. the unprecedented energy of 8.16 TeV. The experiments recorded more than 380 billion collisions at this energy, far exceeding expectations. CHAIN ACCELERATION In order to meet the requirements of the experiments, the LHC and its injectors had to perform some complicated CERN operates a complex of eight accelerators and one gymnastics. Two energy levels and three machine decelerator, which together supply dozens of experiments configurations were employed over four weeks of running. (see p. 13). These accelerators also serve to propel particles A special run was also conducted for the LHCf experiment. into the LHC. The protons collided in the LHC are first The luminosity reached seven times higher than the nominal bunched and accelerated by four injectors in series: Linac2, value set a few years ago for these runs, and the collision Bright bunches This image shows how the particle bunches are joined together and pulled apart in the Protron Synchrotron (PS) using the BCMS (batch compression merging and splitting) method. This process, implemented for the first time in 2016, uses the radio-frequency cavities to form denser particle bunches, which increases the probability of collisions occurring in the LHC. These “brighter” bunches, in accelerator jargon, brought about a 20% increase in luminosity in 2016. (OPEN-PHO-ACCEL-2017-008-1) 22 | CERN DISTRIBUTION OF PROTONS DELIVERED BY THE ACCELERATOR CHAIN TO THE DIFFERENT INSTALLATIONS PSB PS Booster ISOLDE Isotope Separator On Line Device PS Proton Synchrotron EA East Experimental Area AD Antiproton Decelerator SPS Super Proton Synchrotron n_TOF Neutron Time-of-Flight facility LHC Large Hadron Collider NA North Experimental Area Quantity of protons used in 2016 by each ... Other uses, including accelerator studies (machine accelerator and experimental facility, shown as development) a percentage of the number of protons sent by the PS Booster 1.34 x 1020 protons were accelerated in the accelerator complex in 2016. This might sound like a huge number, but in reality it corresponds to a minuscule quantity of matter, roughly equivalent to the number of protons in a grain of sand. In fact, protons are so small that this amount is enough to supply all the experiments. The LHC uses only a tiny portion of these protons, less than 0.1%, as shown in the diagram. the PS Booster, the Proton Synchrotron (PS) and finally the The SPS not only supplied the LHC but also provided 80% Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). Heavy ions are prepared in of the protons required by the experiments in the North Linac3 and the Low-Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) before being sent Experimental Area. This performance is especially impressive to the PS and the SPS. considering that the number of particles in the SPS was limited by a vacuum leak detected in the beam dump. An The injector chain performed impressively in 2016, achieving urgent campaign to produce a new beam dump in just a availability of over 90% for all the accelerators. For example, few months was launched in response to this issue. At the the PS Booster, which groups the particles into bunches, end of the year, the accelerator demonstrated its flexibility achieved 96% availability, supplying particles to the PS and by providing lead nuclei at three different energies to nine the nuclear physics facility ISOLDE. experiments in the North Experimental Area as well as providing the LHC with protons and lead nuclei. The next link in the chain, the PS, redistributes the particle bunches and accelerates them before sending them to Linac3 and LEIR, the two accelerators that prepare heavy various facilities. Half of the protons prepared by the PS ions upstream, recorded excellent performances, bearing go to CERN’s other nuclear physics facility, n_TOF. A witness to the success of the upgrade programme that spare cavity was commissioned in the PS, improving the began in 2015. They delivered bunches at very high transmission of particles to the SPS. intensities, even higher than those required by the LHC 2016 | 23 A spy in the big tunnel TIM, the Train Inspector Monorail, is an autonomous mini-vehicle used for real-time monitoring and inspections of the 27-kilometre tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).