Is the proton beam in the LHC hot or cold?

Off the top of my head, it's probably pretty cold, because it's the average kinetic energy of the particles relative to the center of mass of the packet of protons travelling down the tubes that defines the temperature of that packet of protons, not the speed of that packet (which is every close to the speed of light). Because I don't think provision has been made in the magnetic field driving the packet to keep the protons bunched together longitudinally, the temperature of the packet has to be pretty cold to keep it from spreading unduly longitudinally. But this is an interesting question, and I'll check into the technology of LHC to see 1) what provisions have been made for this, and/or 2) how protons are injected into the beam.

Obviously, it is meaningless to talk about the temperature of a single particle travelling down the LHC beam. It requires at least a packet of particles to define any temperature of it.

Edit: Each LHC beam contains approximately 3,000 bunches separated by an average of 7m, each bunch being as thin as a human hair, but several centimeters long. Each bunch contains 10^11 protons. "Squeezing" is active throughout the cycling, brought down to a minimum at the moment of head-on impact between bunches. So we know that the temperature of each packet of 10^11 protons vary throughout the cycle, but not by many orders of magnitude. So far, I can't find what is that temperature. The temperature at actual source or the fact the bunches moves nearly at light speed with tremendous relativistic kinetic energy doesn't say anything about the temperature of each bunch of 10^11 protons. More research to follow.

Edit 2: The temperature of the protons (or nuclei) at the source is at least at the ionization temperature, which is very high. However, considerable effort is made to cool the beam for better control, and I see that in some papers on other accelerators, the temperature of the bunches are in fact brought down to cryogenic temperatures. But I still don't have any solid data on LHC bunch temperatures. It is very easy to confuse the energy of the accelerated particles with bunch temperature. LHC operators on one hand want the highest possible forward kinetic energy of the bunches, but on the other hand they want the least amount of traverse particle momentum in the beams. Not an easy subject to research. I don't know if the LHC bunches are somewhere below ionization temperatures or indeed down to cryogenic temperatures. Good question.

If I understand the question correctly, hot stuff!

E_b=k*T

T≈8*10^16K

Edit:

I really depends on where, along the path, one puts their

temperature sensor relative to a proton chunk. For example,

if you were in the lab and decided to calculate/define beam

temperature in terms of synchrotron (or linear) radiation loss

one might conclude that "the beam" has a gradient of temperatures.

There are many ways to define temperature for this pea shooter.

I'd imagine with all the heat syncs needed and all the energy put into the beam that it has to have a decent amount of heat for protons.

If I have read it correctly it is hot :)

http://cdsmedia.cern.ch/img/CERN-Brochure-2008-001...

It is both Hot and Cold according to this website info :

http://www.slideshare.net/swissnexSF/mmeverything-...

I had infact thought it was Cold, so just to confirm I searched thru and came across the above link and the contents I have quoted below.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the LHC - CERN - Presentation Transcript

1. The Large Hadron Collider Malika Meddahi – CERN

2. Switzerland Lake Geneva LHC Accelerator (about 100m underground) SPS CERN CERN is the leading European institute for particle physics It is close to Geneva across the French Swiss border There are 20 CERN member states, 5 observer states, and many other states participating in research http://public.web.cern.ch/public/ CERN European Center for Nuclear Research

3. CERN accelerator complex CERN : produce many particles of different types and accelerate them to very high energies

4. The Large Hadron Collider LHC proton-proton collider 7 TeV per beam Circumference ~ 27 km 2 rings

5.

* It does not necessarily go much faster

* Its energy increases, so does its mass

o E = m c 2

* In an interaction, it can transform its energy into massive particles, heavier than its initial mass.

Why using particle accelerators? … one transforms energy into mass When one accelerates a particle… Example: proton at 1 GeV accelerate to almost speed of light  7000 GeV

6. Energy, mass and temperature 1 electron Volt (eV) ~ 1.8 x 10 -36 kg ~ 11.600 ºC 1 Tera electron Volt (TeV) ~ 10 16 ºC Comparison : Sun: outside temperature: 6’000 o C inside temperature: 15-20 10 6 o C

7. The Big Bang LHC : going back in time towards the big bang!

8. Why yet another accelerator?

* A proton in the LHC will have an energy of 7 TeV which is 7’000 billion of electron-volts: Is this really a lot?

* It will only corresponds to 7 times the kinetic energy of a mosquito of 2 mg, flying at 40 cm/s…

* But this energy is concentrated in an object which is one million of a million smaller than a mosquito !

The LHC is an « energy concentrator » Hunting Higgs particle : Energy of Tera-electron Volt

9. Fastest racetrack on the planet: Particles will race around the LHC ring at the speed of light, traveling at almost 300’000 km/s . In 1 second they will have travelled ~11’000 times the LHC ring. The fastest racetrack on the planet! 10 hours of LHC travel 100 times the distance between the earth and the sun!

10.

* Acceleration of a charged particle by an electrical potential

How to accelerate particles? For an acceleration to 7 TeV ... in principle...a total voltage of 7 TV (Trillion Volts) is required ! Maximum electrical field in an accelerator is in the order of some 10 MV/m e- 0 10 kV 20 kV 30 kV … Reach hardware limits e- 0 10 kV 0 30 kV Catch the wave! 10 kV 20 kV 0

11. ... to 7 TeV? LHC circular machine with energy gain per turn some MeV Synchrotron: circular accelerator and many passages in RF cavities

12. The accelerating cavity system … 4 cavities/module - 2 modules/beam - 16 MV (5.5 MV/m)

13. … installed in the LHC tunnel R.Schmidt - AAPT 2008

14. How to keep particles on the circle? The relativistic hammer thrower

o Magnets deflect protons and keep them on a circle

o Electrical field accelerates proton and magnetic field increases

Very strong magnetic field Keep particle on a circle, do not want to throw them away… Not only accelerator, also storage ring!

15. What makes LHC so special? The very large magnetic field Example: Magnetic field : Earth: 5x10 -5 T MRT: 2-3 T Accelerator Circumference Energy Magnetic field SPS 7 km 450 GeV 1.9 T LHC 109 km !! Too expensive… 7000 GeV 1.9 T LHC 7 km 7000 GeV 30 T ! Not possible LHC 27 km 7000 GeV 8-9 T Conventional magnets : NO Superconducting magnets: YES

16.

* Super Conducting magnets get to high current (13’000 A) with very little voltage

* But they have to be very cold (-271 C)

* Technique is called cryogenics

* Technique is known but :

* Have to cool 40’000 tons to -271 C and keep it cold  Takes about …. 1 month

* Largest fridge in the world – even colder than outer space!

What makes LHC so special? The largest fridge in the world

17. LHC dipole magnet Der LHC Beschleuniger - DPG - Bonn

* Magnetic field 8.3 T @ - 271 C (super-fluid Helium)

* 2 magnets-in-one design : two beam tubes with an opening of 56 mm .

18. What makes LHC so special? R.Schmidt - AAPT 2008 A total number of 1’232 dipole magnets, 15 m long, are required to close the 27’000 m long circle The number of magnets : ~ 10‘000

19. Tons to transport and install Installed in the tunnel: 50’000 t Transported over Europe: ~150’000 t

20. … .installation phase LHC dipole magnet lowered into the tunnel

21. Transport in the tunnel with an optical guided vehicle Magnet installation in the tunnel

22. Magnet installation in the tunnel

23. Checking and checking again…

24. Soudage des interconnexions cryogéniques Magnet interconnection brazing

25. 3 km long arc cryostat

26. Why is the LHC so special? The hottest spots in the galaxy: Collision of two beams of protons  generate temperature >100’000 hotter than the heart of the sun, concentrated within a minuscule space ( 0.020 mm diameter, 7 cm long ) Not 1 proton but 2808 bunches of 10 11 protons each!!! By contrast, the cryogenic distribution system which circulates super fluid helium around the accelerator ring, keeps the LHC at a super cool temperature of -271 C Extreme hot and cold!

27. The power stored in the LHC 360 MJoule: the energy stored in one LHC beam corresponds approximately to… 90 kg of TNT 8 litres of gasoline 15 kg of chocolate With so much stored energy.... ...HOW TO STOP THE BEAM? The energy of an 200 m long fast train at 155 km/hour corresponds to the energy of 360 MJoule stored in one LHC beam 20’000 tons British aircraft carrier at 12 knots

28. The only component that can stand a loss of the full beam is the beam dump block, all other components would be damaged about 8 m concrete shielding beam absorber (graphite) about 35 cm max 800 0 C How do we “kill” the LHC beam?

29. Putting it all together

* 1982 : first studies for the LHC project

* 2008 : beam commissioning

30. Beam trajectory correction

* PRECISION OF THE BEAM POSITION IN THE RING = 1.5 mm

* PRECISON OF THE BEAM POSITION AT THE INTERACTION POINT = 0.010 mm

5 th – 7 th of September

31. 30 March 2010: First 7 TeV collisions

* 7 TeV collision events seen by the LHC's four major experiments (clockwise from top-left: ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, LHCb).

32. Conclusion

* The LHC is a global project with the world-wide high-energy physics community – 10’000 researchers - devoted to its progress and results

* As a project, it is much more complex and diversified than the SPS or LEP or any other large accelerator project constructed to date

* Most of the LHC components cannot be purchased off the shelf. A new machine by itself, but a lot of technology transfer. Medical applications, light sources, industry for material studies...

* Last but not least : the WWW

* Bringing nations together !

33. Acknowledgments

* The LHC accelerator is being realised by CERN in collaboration with institutes from many countries over a period of more than 20 years

* Main contribution come from USA (via LARP) and from other countries (Japan, Russia, India, Canada, special contributions from France and Switzerland)

* Industry plays a major role in the construction of the LHC

* The greatest economic benefits of scientific research have always resulted from advances in fundamental knowledge rather than the search for specific applications. Margaret Thatcher

Thanks for the material from: L.Evans, B.Goddard, W. Herr, Ph.Lebrun, R. Schmidt, J. Wenninger

34.

35. How to protect the magnets? complex collimation system

* Ensure ‘cohabitation’ of:

o 360 MJ of stored beam energy,

o super-conducting magnets with quench limits of few mJ/cm 3

* Almost 100 collimators and absorbers.

* Alignment tolerances < 0.1 mm to ensure that over 99.99% of the protons are intercepted.

* Primary and secondary collimators are made of Carbon to survive large beam loss.

beam 1.2 m

36. Why is the LHC so special?

* Over this journey particlesmust have the minimum risk to interact with unwanted particles, such as gas molecules …

* They must travel in special chamber where ultra high vacuum is established – a cavity as empty as interplanetary space

* Only one molecule of air is present every 500 km

* The internal pressure of the LHC is 10 -13 bar, ten times less than the pressure on the moon!

The emptiest space in the solar system!

I was not aware of this and i wanted to know more details thus came across this website and this list of information came on the fore.