Super Large Hadron Collider

The Super Large Hadron Collider (SLHC) is a proposed upgrade to the Large Hadron Collider to be made around 2012. The upgrade aims at increasing the luminosity of the machine by factor of 10 to 10³⁵ cm⁻²s⁻¹, providing a better chance to see rare processes and improving statistically marginal measurements. Many different paths exist for upgrading the collider. A collection of different designs of the high luminosity interaction regions is being maintained by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) [ [http://care-hhh.web.cern.ch/care-hhh/SuperLHC_IRoptics/IRoptics.html IR optics collection] ] .A workshop was held in 2006 to establish which are the most promising options [ [http://care-hhh.web.cern.ch/CARE-HHH/LUMI-06/default.html LUMI 06 workshop] ] . A comprehensive press article on this workshop can be found at the [http://img.4chan.org/b/imgboard.html] .A summary of the possible machine parameters can be found at [http://care-hhh.web.cern.ch/CARE-HHH/LUMI-06/lhcupgradeparameters.htm Machine parameters collection] .

Increasing LHC luminosity involves reduction of beam size at the collision point and either reduction of bunch length and spacing, or significant increase in bunch length and population. The maximum integrated luminosity increase of the existing options is about a factor of 4 higher than the LHC ultimate performance, unfortunately far below the LHC upgrade project's initial ambition of a factor of 10.However at the latest LUMI'06 workshop [ [http://care-hhh.web.cern.ch/CARE-HHH/LUMI-06/default.html LUMI 06 workshop] ] , several suggestions were proposed to boost the LHC peak luminosity by another factor of 10 beyond nominal towards 10³⁵ cm⁻²s⁻¹.

The resultant higher event rate poses important challenges for the particle detectors located in the collision areas [ [http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/UPGRADES/ ATLAS upgrade web page] ] .

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