Analysis of the Electron Cloud Observations with 25 ns Bunch Spacing at the LHC

Abstract

Electron Cloud (EC) effects have been identified as a major performance limitation for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) when operating with the nominal bunch spacing of 25 ns. During the LHC Run 1 (2010 - 2013) the luminosity production mainly used beams with 50 ns spacing, while 25 ns beams were only employed for short periods in 2011 and 2012 for test purposes. On these occasions, observables such as pressure rise, heat load in the cold sections as well as clear signatures on bunch-by-bunch emittance blow up, particle loss and energy loss indicated the presence of an EC in a large portion of the LHC. The analysis of the recorded data, together with EC build up simulations, has led to a significant improvement of our understanding of the EC effect in the different components of the LHC. Studies were carried out both at injection energy (450 GeV) and at top energy (4 TeV) aiming at determining the energy dependence of the EC formation and its impact on the quality of the proton beam.