Beam losses from ultra-peripheral nuclear collisions between Pb ions in the Large Hadron Collider and their alleviation

Abstract

Electromagnetic interactions between colliding heavy ions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will give rise to localized beam losses that may quench superconducting magnets, apart from contributing significantly to the luminosity decay. To quantify their impact on the operation of the collider, we have used a three-step simulation approach, which consists of optical tracking, a Monte-Carlo shower simulation and a thermal network model of the heat flow inside a magnet. We present simulation results for the case of Pb ion operation in the LHC, with focus on the ALICE interaction region, and show that the expected heat load during nominal Pb operation is 40% above the quench level. This limits the maximum achievable luminosity. Furthermore, we discuss methods of monitoring the losses and possible ways to alleviate their effect.

arXiv comment17 pages, 20 figures

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Cited by in corpus (22)

• Centrality determination of Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV with ALICE
• Photonuclear and Two-photon Interactions at High-Energy Nuclear Colliders
• Measurement of the cross section for electromagnetic dissociation with neutron emission in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV
• New physics searches with heavy-ion collisions at the LHC
• Bound-free pair production in ultra-relativistic ion collisions at the LHC collider: Analytic approach to the total and differential cross sections
• Performance and luminosity models for heavy-ion operation at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
• Testing Beam-Induced Quench Levels of LHC Superconducting Magnets
• Potential performance for Pb-Pb, p-Pb and p-p collisions in a future circular collider
• Time evolution of the luminosity of colliding heavy-ion beams in BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and CERN Large Hadron Collider
• Collimation of partially stripped ions in the CERN Large Hadron Collider
• Neutron emission in ultraperipheral Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV
• Bound-free pair production from nuclear collisions and the steady-state quench limit of the main dipole magnets of the CERN Large Hadron Collider
• Bound-free pair production in relativistic nuclear collisions from the NICA to the HE LHC colliders
• Heavy ion beam loss mechanisms at an electron-ion collider
• Proton emission in ultraperipheral Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{{\text{s}}_{\text{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV
• Measurement of the electromagnetic dissociation cross section of Pb nuclei at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV
• Emission of forward neutrons by 158A GeV indium nuclei in collisions with Al, Cu, Sn and Pb
• Facilities for the Energy Frontier of Nuclear Physics
• Charting the Luminosity Capabilities of the CERN Large Hadron Collider with Various Nuclear Species
• Data-driven method to estimate contamination from light ion beam transmutation at colliders
• Emittance increase caused by core depletion in collisions
• Commissioning and Operation