The FASER Detector

FASER, the ForwArd Search ExpeRiment, is an experiment dedicated to searching for light, extremely weakly-interacting particles at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Such particles may be produced in the very forward direction of the LHC's high-energy collisions and then decay to visible particles inside the FASER detector, which is placed 480 m downstream of the ATLAS interaction point, aligned with the beam collisions axis. FASER also includes a sub-detector, FASER$\nu$, designed to detect neutrinos produced in the LHC collisions and to study their properties. In this paper, each component of the FASER detector is described in detail, as well as the installation of the experiment system and its commissioning using cosmic-rays collected in September 2021 and during the LHC pilot beam test carried out in October 2021. FASER will start taking LHC collision data in 2022, and will run throughout LHC Run 3

Measurement and alignment of the TIDVG5 SPS beam dump

During the Long Shutdown 2 (LS2 2018-2021) the CERN injector complex was upgraded to meet the future High Luminosity-Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) re- quirements. One major activity was the construction and installation of a new beam dump, in the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), able to cope with the increasing brightness of the high luminosity beams. The challenge for survey engineers was to align the beam dump and especially the core of the component within the tolerance required by the physicists. The measuring system had to ensure a transverse align- ment tolerance of ±0.7 mm (3σ) with respect to the beam axis defined by the surrounding quadrupoles, while facing many external constraints. A 2 m thick wall, composed of steel, concrete and marble, shields the new beam dump. The estimated dose for a year of operation is 1 MGy at 35 cm from the core. In addition, a bakeout of the dump up to 150°C is required to ensure the needed vacuum quality. The system had to be reliable and failsafe as there is no manual access possible during the 20 years of service. These heavy constraints led to a complete study of the spatial measure- ment system for the equipment. The paper describes in detail the design of the measure- ment and alignment system from the initial idea to the pro- totypes and the production. It also provides an overview of the tests and the first measurement results achieved

Findings of the Physics Beyond Colliders ECN3 Beam Delivery Task Force

The ECN3 Beam Delivery Task Force was mandated by the PBC Study Group to assess the technical feasibility of increasing the proton beam intensity to the ECN3 hall of the North Area to satisfy the demands of a compelling set of PBC experimental physics proposals. This report summarises the findings of the Task Force that converge on a technically feasible solution with an implementation timeline that could exploit and build upon the investment already foreseen as part of Phase 1 of the NA-CONS project, and take the SPS complex into a new intensity frontier for Fixed Target physics in Run4

Towards the Last Stages of the CERN’s AD-Target Area Consolidation Project and Recommissioning Plans to Resume Operation

Antiprotons are produced at CERN at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) Target Area by impacting 26 GeV/c proton beams onto a fixed target. Further collection, momentum selection, and transport of the secondary particles - including antiprotons - towards the AD ring is realised by a 400 kA pulsed magnetic horn and a set of magnetic dipoles and quadrupoles. A major consolidation of the area - in operation since the 80s - has taken place during the CERN Long Shutdown 2 (2019-2021). Among other activities, such upgrade included: (i) Installation of a new air-cooled target design and manufacturing of a new batch of magnetic horns, including a surface pulsing test-bench for their validation and fine-tuning (ii) Installation of a new positioning and maintenance system for the target and horn (iii) Refurbishment and decontamination of the Target Area and its equipment, (iv) Construction of a new surface service building to house new nuclear ventilation systems. This contribution presents an overview of such activities and lesson learnt. In addition, it provides the latest results from refractory metals R&D for the antiproton target and a summary of the recommissioning and optimization plans

The FASER detector

Abstract FASER, the ForwArd Search ExpeRiment, is an experiment dedicated to searching for light, extremely weakly-interacting particles at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Such particles may be produced in the very forward direction of the LHC's high-energy collisions and then decay to visible particles inside the FASER detector, which is placed 480 m downstream of the ATLAS interaction point, aligned with the beam collisions axis. FASER also includes a sub-detector, FASERν, designed to detect neutrinos produced in the LHC collisions and to study their properties. In this paper, each component of the FASER detector is described in detail, as well as the installation of the experiment system and its commissioning using cosmic-rays collected in September 2021 and during the LHC pilot beam test carried out in October 2021. FASER has successfully started taking LHC collision data in 2022, and will run throughout LHC Run 3.</jats:p

The FASER Detector

FASER, the ForwArd Search ExpeRiment, is an experiment dedicated to searching for light, extremely weakly-interacting particles at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Such particles may be produced in the very forward direction of the LHC's high-energy collisions and then decay to visible particles inside the FASER detector, which is placed 480 m downstream of the ATLAS interaction point, aligned with the beam collisions axis. FASER also includes a sub-detector, FASER$\nu$, designed to detect neutrinos produced in the LHC collisions and to study their properties. In this paper, each component of the FASER detector is described in detail, as well as the installation of the experiment system and its commissioning using cosmic-rays collected in September 2021 and during the LHC pilot beam test carried out in October 2021. FASER will start taking LHC collision data in 2022, and will run throughout LHC Run 3