Author: Fuster Martinez, N.
Paper Title Page
THPPP086 UFOs in the LHC: Observations, Studies and Extrapolations 3936
 
  • T. Baer, M.J. Barnes, F. Cerutti, A. Ferrari, N. Garrel, B. Goddard, E.B. Holzer, S. Jackson, A. Lechner, V. Mertens, M. Misiowiec, E. Nebot Del Busto, A. Nordt, J.A. Uythoven, V. Vlachoudis, J. Wenninger, C. Zamantzas, F. Zimmermann
    CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
  • T. Baer
    University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
  • N. Fuster Martinez
    Valencia University, Atomic Molecular and Nuclear Physics Department, Valencia, Spain
 
  Unidentified falling objects (UFOs) are potentially a major luminosity limitation for nominal LHC operation. They are presumably micrometer sized dust particles which lead to fast beam losses when they interact with the beam. With large-scale increases and optimizations of the beam loss monitor (BLM) thresholds, their impact on LHC availability was mitigated from mid 2011 onwards. For higher beam energy and lower magnet quench limits, the problem is expected to be considerably worse, though. In 2011/12, the diagnostics for UFO events were significantly improved: dedicated experiments and measurements in the LHC and in the laboratory were made and complemented by FLUKA simulations and theoretical studies. The state of knowledge, extrapolations for nominal LHC operation and mitigation strategies are presented.