Gamma Factory at CERN – novel research tools made of light

We discuss the possibility of creating novel research tools by producing and storing highly relativistic beams of highly ionised atoms in the CERN accelerator complex, and by exciting their atomic degrees of freedom with lasers to produce high-energy photon beams. Intensity of such photon beams would be by several orders of magnitude higher than offered by the presently operating light sources, in the particularly interesting gamma-ray energy domain of 0.1-400 MeV. In this energy range, the high-intensity photon beams can be used to produce secondary beams of polarised electrons, polarised positrons, polarised muons, neutrinos, neutrons and radioactive ions. New research opportunities in a wide domain of fundamental and applied physics can be opened by the Gamma Factory scientific programme based on the above primary and secondary beams.Comment: 12 pages; presented by W. Placzek at the XXV Cracow Epiphany Conference on Advances in Heavy Ion Physics, 8-11 January 2019, Cracow, Polan

Numerical investigation of space charge effects on the positions of beamlets for transversely split beams

The use of transversely split beams was proposed some years ago as a means to perform extraction from a circular particle accelerator over multiple turns. In the course of studies carried out to increase understanding of the beam behavior, space charge effects have been probed. The experimental results showed a dependence of the beamlets’ positions on the total beam intensity. In this paper detailed numerical simulations studies are reported, which clearly indicate that the observed behavior is due to indirect space charge effects. The analysis includes configurations, which have not yet been experimentally probed, in order to better understand the complex interplay between nonlinear single-particle and intensity-dependent effects

The CERN Gamma Factory Initiative: An Ultra-High Intensity Gamma Source

International audienceThis contribution discusses the possibility of broadening the present CERN research programme making use of a novel concept of light source. The proposed, Partially Stripped Ion beam driven, light source is the backbone of the Gamma Factory (GF) initiative. It could push the intensity limits of the presently operating light-sources by 7 orders of mag- nitude, reaching the flux of up to $10^{17}$ photons/s. It could operate in the particularly interesting $\gamma$-ray energy domain of $1 \leq E \gamma \leq 400$ MeV. This domain is out of reach for the FEL-based light sources based on sub-TeV energy-range electron beams. The unprecedented-intensity, energy-tuned, gamma beams, together with the gamma-beams-driven secondary beams of polarized positrons, polarized muons, neutrinos, neutrons and radioactive ions would constitute the basic research tools of the proposed Gamma Factory. A broad spectrum of new opportunities, in a vast domain of uncharted fundamental and applied physics territories, could be opened by the Gamma Factory research programme

Injectors Beam Performance Evolution during Run 2

This contribution gives an overview of the beam performance of the LHC injector chain during Run 2. In the first part the various beam types used for LHC luminosity production with protons (e.g. 25 ns standard, 25 ns BCMS, 8b4e, 8b4e BCS) are described. The present performance limitations along the injector chain together with the achieved beam parameters at LHC injection (e.g. transverse emittance, intensity, batch spacing) are summarised. Also the special high intensity beams, which were studied within the LIU framework and also extracted to the LHC for Machine Development studies, are mentioned. The second part describes the evolution of the ion beams for the LHC throughout Run 2 and their optimisation for luminosity production

The Gamma Factory Project at CERN : a new generation of research tools made of light

The Gamma Factory project offers the possibility of creating novel research tools by producing relativistic beams of highly ionised atoms in CERN’s accelerator complex and exciting their atomic degrees of freedom by lasers to produce strongly collimated high-energy photon beams. Intensity of such beams would exceed by several orders of magnitude the ones offered by the presently operating light sources, in the particularly interesting energy domain from about 100 keV to above 400 MeV. In this energy regime, the high-intensity photon beams can be used to produce secondary beams of polarised electrons, polarised positrons, polarised muons, neutrinos, neutrons and radioactive ions. New research opportunities in many domains of physics, from particle physics through nuclear physics to atomic physics, can be opened by the Gamma Factory scientific programme based on the above primary and secondary beams. Except for basic research, it offers also a possibility for various application studies, e.g. in medical physics and nuclear power

Gamma Factory Proof-of-Principle Experiment

The presented document if the Letter of Intent for the Gamma Factory Proof-of-Principle Experiment