Impact of $7-TeV∕c$ large hadron collider proton beam on a copper target Available to Purchase

The large hadron collider (LHC) will allow for collision between two $7TeV∕c$ proton beams, each comprising 2808 bunches with $1.1×1011$ protons per bunch, traveling in opposite direction. The bunch length is $0.5ns$ and two neighboring bunches are separated by $25ns$ so that the duration of the entire beam is about $89μs$⁠. The beam power profile in the transverse direction is a Gaussian with a standard deviation of $0.2mm$⁠. The energy stored in each beam is about $350MJ$ that is sufficient to melt $500kg$ of copper. In case of a failure in the machine protection systems, the entire beam could impact directly onto an accelerator equipment. A first estimate of the scale of damage resulting from such a failure has been assessed for a solid copper target hit by the beam by carrying out three-dimensional energy deposition calculations and two-dimensional numerical simulations of the hydrodynamic and thermodynamic response of the target. This work has shown that the penetration depth of the LHC protons will be between 10 and $40m$ in solid copper. These calculations show that material conditions obtained in the target are similar to those planned for beam impact at dedicated accelerators designed to study the physics of high-energy-density states of matter, for example, the Facility for Antiprotons and Ion Research at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt [W. F. Henning, Nucl. Instrum Methods Phys. Res. B 214, 211 (2004)].