The CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is designed to collide proton beams of unprecedented energy, in order to extend the frontiers of high-energy particle physics. During the first very successful ...running period in 2010–2013, the LHC was routinely storing protons at 3.5–4 TeV with a total beam energy of up to 146 MJ, and even higher stored energies are foreseen in the future. This puts extraordinary demands on the control of beam losses. An uncontrolled loss of even a tiny fraction of the beam could cause a superconducting magnet to undergo a transition into a normal-conducting state, or in the worst case cause material damage. Hence a multistage collimation system has been installed in order to safely intercept high-amplitude beam protons before they are lost elsewhere. To guarantee adequate protection from the collimators, a detailed theoretical understanding is needed. This article presents results of numerical simulations of the distribution of beam losses around the LHC that have leaked out of the collimation system. The studies include tracking of protons through the fields of more than 5000 magnets in the 27 km LHC ring over hundreds of revolutions, and Monte Carlo simulations of particle-matter interactions both in collimators and machine elements being hit by escaping particles. The simulation results agree typically within a factor 2 with measurements of beam loss distributions from the previous LHC run. Considering the complex simulation, which must account for a very large number of unknown imperfections, and in view of the total losses around the ring spanning over 7 orders of magnitude, we consider this an excellent agreement. Our results give confidence in the simulation tools, which are used also for the design of future accelerators.
Abstract
Two electron lenses are installed in Relativistic Heavy Ion
Collider (RHIC). They were used as operational head-on beam-beam
compensators in proton-proton collisions, with Gaussian ...transverse
electron beam profiles. One of the lenses was also used with a
hollow transverse profile to test hadron beam halo removal under
various conditions. Although presently not in the design, the lenses
may find applications in the Electron-ion Collider (EIC) for either
collimation or beam-beam mitigation.
To compensate the beam-beam tune spread and beam-beam resonance driving terms in the polarized proton operation in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), we will introduce a low energy DC ...electron beam into each ring to collide head-on with the opposing proton beam. The device to provide the electron beam is called an electron lens. In this article, using a 6D weak-strong beam-beam interaction simulation model, we will investigate the effects of head-on beam-beam compensation with electron lenses on the proton beam dynamics for the RHIC 250 GeV polarized proton operation. Frequency maps, dynamic apertures, and proton beam loss rates are calculated for this study. Key beam parameters involved in this scheme are varied to search for the optimum compensation condition. The sensitivities of head-on beam-beam compensation to beam imperfections and beam offsets are also studied.
A hollow electron beam has been proposed as an active control tool to remove the beam halo from high-energy, high-current hadron or ion machines (such as the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider). ...To study the halo removal rate and assess the effect on the ion beam core, one of the two electron lenses in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider was changed from a Gaussian beam profile to a hollow profile. We describe the design and verification of the hollow electron beam parameters as well as the methods to minimize the hollow beam profile distortions, which can result in an ion beam emittance increase. The hollow beam alignment with the ion beam by using a backscattered electron detector has been demonstrated. Furthermore, experiments were carried out to explore the efficiency of the halo removal by scanning the current and inner radius of the hollow electron beam, which is pulsed either every turn or every nth turn. The effects of the hollow electron beam on the ion beam emittance and luminosity were also assessed experimentally by scanning the inner radius of the electron beam.
The world’s first electron cooling based on the rf acceleration of electron bunches was experimentally demonstrated at the Low Energy RHIC Electron Cooler (LEReC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. ...The critical step in obtaining cooling of the Au ions in the collider with this new approach was matching the electron and ion relativisticγ-factors with a relative error of less than5×10−4. Since the electron beam kinetic energy was just 1.6 MeV, it was required to set the absolute energy of electrons with an accuracy better than 0.8 keV. The method of setting electron energy in conventional coolers was unsuitable for LEReC and a new technique had to be developed. In this paper we describe our experience with measuring the electron beam energy at LEReC and precisely matching electron and ionγ-factors, which resulted in demonstration of the cooling.
Correction of beta-beat is of great importance for performance improvement of high energy accelerators, like the Relativistic Hadron Ion Collider (RHIC). At RHIC, using the independent component ...analysis method, linear optical functions are extracted from the turn by turn beam position data of the ac dipole driven betatron oscillation. Despite the constraint of a limited number of available quadrupole correctors at RHIC, a global beta-beat correction scheme using a beta-beat response matrix method was developed and experimentally demonstrated. In both rings, a factor of 2 or better reduction of beta-beat was achieved within available beam time. At the same time, a new scheme of using horizontal closed orbit bump at sextupoles to correct beta-beat in the arcs was demonstrated in the Yellow ring of RHIC at beam energy of 255 GeV, and a peak beta-beat of approximately 7% was achieved.
Long-range beam-beam effects are a potential limit to the LHC performance with the nominal design parameters, and certain upgrade scenarios under discussion. To mitigate long-range effects, current ...carrying wires parallel to the beam were proposed and space is reserved in the LHC for such wires. Two current carrying wires were installed in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider to study the effect of strong long-range beam-beam effects in a collider, as well as test the compensation of a single long-range interaction. The experimental data were used to benchmark simulations. We summarize this work.
The operation of RHIC collider rings in polarized proton runs includes helical snakes, which allow for preserving polarization during acceleration to store energies. The RHIC lattice also includes ...spin rotators, operated when nonvertical polarization or corrections to the orientation of polarization at the interaction points are required. Utilization of OPERA field maps of snakes and rotators has been systematized in the past decade, in order to assess in detail the effects of these spin devices on beam polarization, and their perturbative effects on beam optics. The method is also used in ongoing studies regarding the future Electron Ion Collider, to permit increasing average store polarization to at least 70% at 275 GeV and the acceleration of polarized helion with low polarization losses. This paper reviews various applications and outcomes of these field map methods. It is thereby also a review of studies undertaken as part of beam polarization research activities at RHIC in recent years.
A head-on beam-beam compensation scheme was implemented for operation in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 264801 (2015). The ...compensation consists of electron lenses for the reduction of the beam-beam induced tune spread, and a lattice for the minimization of beam-beam generated resonance driving terms. We describe the implementations of the lattice and electron lenses, and report on measurements of lattice properties and the effect of the electron lenses on the hadron beam.
The Beam Energy Scan phase II (BES-II), performed in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) from 2019 to 2021, explored the phase transition between quark-gluon plasma and hadronic gas. BES-II ...exceeded the goal of a fourfold increase in the average luminosity over that achieved during Beam Energy Scan phase I (BES-I), at five gold beam energies: 9.8, 7.3, 5.75, 4.59, and3.85GeV/nucleon. This was accomplished by addressing several beam dynamics effects, including intrabeam scattering, beam-beam, space charge, beam instability, and field errors induced by superconducting magnet persistent currents. Some of these effects are especially detrimental at low energies. BES-II achievements are presented, and the measures taken to improve RHIC performance are described. These measures span the whole RHIC complex, including ion beam sources, injectors, beam lifetime improvements in RHIC, and operation with the world’s first bunched beam Low Energy RHIC electron Cooler (LEReC).
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