Reliability analysis for the quench detection in the LHC machine

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will incorporate a large amount of superconducting elements that require protection in case of a quench. Key elements in the quench protection system are the electronic quench detectors. Their reliability will have an important impact on the down time as well as on the operational cost of the collider. The expected rates of both false and missed quenches have been computed for several redundant detection schemes. The developed model takes account of the maintainability of the system to optimise the frequency of foreseen checks, and evaluate their influence on the performance of different detection topologies. Seen the uncertainty of the failure rate of the components combined with the LHC tunnel environment, the study has been completed with a sensitivity analysis of the results. The chosen detection scheme and the maintainability strategy for each detector family are given

Two-dimensional solitons with hidden and explicit vorticity in bimodal cubic-quintic media

We demonstrate that two-dimensional two-component bright solitons of an annular shape, carrying vorticities $(m,\pm m)$ in the components, may be stable in media with the cubic-quintic nonlinearity, including the \textit{hidden-vorticity} (HV) solitons of the type $(m,-m)$, whose net vorticity is zero. Stability regions for the vortices of both $(m,\pm m)$ types are identified for $m=1$, 2, and 3, by dint of the calculation of stability eigenvalues, and in direct simulations. A novel feature found in the study of the HV solitons is that their stability intervals never reach the (cutoff) point at which the bright vortex carries over into a dark one, hence dark HV solitons can never be stable, contrarily to the bright ones. In addition to the well-known symmetry-breaking (\textit{external}) instability, which splits the ring soliton into a set of fragments flying away in tangential directions, we report two new scenarios of the development of weak instabilities specific to the HV solitons. One features \textit{charge flipping}, with the two components exchanging the angular momentum and periodically reversing the sign of their spins. The composite soliton does not split in this case, therefore we identify such instability as an \textit{intrinsic} one. Eventually, the soliton splits, as weak radiation loss drives it across the border of the ordinary strong (external) instability. Another scenario proceeds through separation of the vortex cores in the two components, each individual core moving toward the outer edge of the annular soliton. After expulsion of the cores, there remains a zero-vorticity breather with persistent internal vibrations.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

Upgrade of the protection system for superconducting circuits in the LHC

Prior to the re-start of the Large Hadron Collider LHC in 2009 the protection system for superconducting magnets and bus-bars QPS will be substantially upgraded. The foreseen modifications will enhance the capability of the system in detecting problems related to the electrical interconnections between superconducting magnets as well as the detection of so-called aperture symmetric quenches in the LHC main magnets

Characterization of the radiation tolerance of cryogenic diodes for the High Luminosity LHC inner triplet circuit

Cryogenic bypass diodes are part of the baseline powering layout for the circuits of the new Nb3Sn based final focus magnets of the high luminosity Large Hadron Collider. They will protect the magnets against excessive transient voltages during a nonuniform quenching process. The diodes are located inside an extension to the magnet cryostat, operated in superfluid helium and exposed to ionizing radiation. Therefore, the radiation tolerance of different types of diodes has been tested at cryogenic temperatures in CERN’s CHARM irradiation test facility during its 2018 run. The forward bias characteristics, the turn-on voltage and the reverse blocking voltage of each diode were measured weekly at 4.2 K and 77 K, as a function of the accumulated radiation dose. The diodes were submitted to a total dose close to 12 kGy and a 1 MeV neutron equivalent fluence of 2.2×1014  cm−2. After the end of the irradiation program the annealing behavior of the diodes was tested by increasing the temperature slowly to 293 K. This paper describes the experimental setup, the measurement procedure and the analysis of the measurements performed during the irradiation program as well as the results of the annealing study

Low Energy Analyzing Powers in Pion-Proton Elastic Scattering

Analyzing powers of pion-proton elastic scattering have been measured at PSI with the Low Energy Pion Spectrometer LEPS as well as a novel polarized scintillator target. Angular distributions between 40 and 120 deg (c.m.) were taken at 45.2, 51.2, 57.2, 68.5, 77.2, and 87.2 MeV incoming pion kinetic energy for pi+ p scattering, and at 67.3 and 87.2 MeV for pi- p scattering. These new measurements constitute a substantial extension of the polarization data base at low energies. Predictions from phase shift analyses are compared with the experimental results, and deviations are observed at low energies.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Predicting the impact of outdoor vector control interventions on malaria transmission intensity from semi-field studies

BACKGROUND: Semi-field experiments with human landing catch (HLC) measure as the outcome are an important step in the development of novel vector control interventions against outdoor transmission of malaria since they provide good estimates of personal protection. However, it is often infeasible to determine whether the reduction in HLC counts is due to mosquito mortality or repellency, especially considering that spatial repellents based on volatile pyrethroids might induce both. Due to the vastly different impact of repellency and mortality on transmission, the community-level impact of spatial repellents can not be estimated from such semi-field experiments. METHODS: We present a new stochastic model that is able to estimate for any product inhibiting outdoor biting, its repelling effect versus its killing and disarming (preventing host-seeking until the next night) effects, based only on time-stratified HLC data from controlled semi-field experiments. For parameter inference, a Bayesian hierarchical model is used to account for nightly variation of semi-field experimental conditions. We estimate the impact of the products on the vectorial capacity of the given Anopheles species using an existing mathematical model. With this methodology, we analysed data from recent semi-field studies in Kenya and Tanzania on the impact of transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons, the odour-baited Suna trap and their combination (push-pull system) on HLC of Anopheles arabiensis in the peridomestic area. RESULTS: Complementing previous analyses of personal protection, we found that the transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons act mainly by killing or disarming mosquitoes. Depending on the actual ratio of disarming versus killing, the vectorial capacity of An. arabiensis is reduced by 41 to 96% at 70% coverage with the transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons and by 38 to 82% at the same coverage with the push-pull system, under the assumption of a similar impact on biting indoors compared to outdoors. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this analysis of semi-field data suggest that transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons are a promising tool against malaria transmission by An. arabiensis in the peridomestic area, since they provide both personal and community protection. Our modelling framework can estimate the community-level impact of any tool intervening during the mosquito host-seeking state using data from only semi-field experiments with time-stratified HLC

First Powering of the LHC Test String 2

String 2 is a full-size model of a regular cell in an LHC arc. In the first phase, three dipole magnets and two quadrupole magnets have been assembled in String 2 and commissioning started in April 2001. By the beginning of 2002 three pre-series dipole magnets will be added to complete the cell. As for its predecessor String 1, the facility was built to individually validate the LHC systems and to investigate their collective behaviour for normal operation with the magnets at a temperature of 1.9 K, during transients as well as during exceptional conditions. String 2 is a precious milestone before installation and commissioning of the first LHC sector (1/8 of the machine) in 2004, with respect to infrastructure, installation, tooling and assembly procedures, testing and commissioning of individual systems, as well as the global commissioning of the technical systems. This paper describes the commissioning, and retraces the first powering history

Experimental Setup to Characterize the Radiation Hardness of Cryogenic Bypass Diodes for the HL-LHC Inner Triplet Circuits

For the high luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), it is planned to replace the existing triplet quadrupole magnets with Nb₃Sn quadrupole magnets, which provide a comparable integrated field gradient with a significantly increased aperture. These magnets will be powered through a novel superconducting link based on MgB₂ cables. One option for the powering layout of this triplet circuit is the use of cryogenic bypass diodes, where the diodes are located inside an extension to the magnet cryostat and operated in superfluid helium. Hence, they are exposed to radiation. For this reason the radiation hardness of existing LHC type bypass diodes and more radiation tolerant prototype diodes needs to be tested up to the radiation doses expected at their planned position during their lifetime. A first irradiation test is planned in CERN's CHARM facility starting in spring 2018. Therefore, a cryo-cooler based cryostat to irradiate and test LHC type diodes in-situ has been designed and constructed. This paper will describe the properties of the sample diodes, the experimental roadmap and the setup installed in CHARM. Finally, the first measurement results will be discussed