For the LHC to provide particle physics with proton-proton collisions at the centre of mass energy of 14 TeV with a luminosity of 1034 cm-2s-1, the machine will operate with high-field dipole magnets using NbTi superconductors cooled to below the lambda point of helium. In order to reach design performance, the LHC requires both, the use of existing technologies pushed to the limits as well as the application of novel technologies. The construction follows a decade of intensive R&D and technical validation of major collider sub-systems.
The first lecture will focus on the required LHC performance, and on the implications on the technologies. In the following lectures several examples for LHC technologies will be discussed: the superconducting magnets to deflect and focus the beams, the cryogenics to cool the magnets to a temperature below the lambda point of helium along most of the LHC circumference, the powering system supplying about 7000 magnets connected in 1700 electrical circuits with a total current of more than 2 MA, the installation of the equipment constrained by the tight space given in the former LEP tunnel, and finally the systems to ensure safe operation of the machine in the presence of an unprecedented quantity of energy stored in both magnets and beams.
Monday 24 March
O. Bruning: Physics of the LHC accelerator and implications on hardware