The LHCb collaboration took proton interaction data this weekend.
The proton beam knocked at the LHC’s very solid door this weekend and found it still closed, but nonetheless managed to provide the LHCb collaboration with very interesting data. The CERN accelerator system (see video) is now fully operational, except for the LHC collider itself. This past weekend, CERN accelerator system operators tested the two transfer lines between the SPS and LHC. One of these lines ends with a so-called beam stopper known as the “TED”, located at the end of the line about 300m from the LHCb detector. The TED is currently closed, and so absorbed the proton beam before it could enter the LHC. However many muons were produced during the absorption process, and these muons passed through the TED and traversed the LHCb detector.
This “beam dump” experiment therefore created an excellent opportunity for LHCb physicists and engineers to commission the LHCb detector and data acquisition system. The collected data are also useful for detector studies and alignment purposes (i.e. determining the relative geometrical locations of the different sub-detectors with respect to each other).
The image shows the shift leader, run coordinator, spokesperson and sub-detector experts in front of the LHCb data acquisition computer screens.
LHCb took its last collision data on 14th February 2013. The two year Long Shutdown 1 (LS1) period that followed has been used for an extensive program of consolidation and maintenance (see 24 January 2014 “underground” news). Collisions are expected to resume again in Spring 2015.
Click the images for higher resolution and read about the LHC side of the story here.