Beam Performance with the LHC Injectors Upgrade

Abstract

The LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) project was put in place between 2010 and 2021 to increase the intensity and brightness in the LHC injectors to match the challenging requirements of the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project, while ensuring reliable operation of the injectors complex up to the end of the HL-LHC era (ca. 2040). During the 2019-2020 CERN accelerators shutdown, extensive hardware modifications were implemented in the entire LHC proton and ion injection chains, involving the new Linac4, the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB), the Proton Synchrotron (PS), the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and the ion PS injectors, i.e. the Linac3 and the Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR). Since 2021, beams have been recommissioned throughout the injectors’ chain and the beam parameters are being gradually ramped up to meet the LIU specifications using new beam dynamics solutions adapted to the upgraded accelerators. This paper focuses on the proton beams and describes the current state of the art