Localized Beampipe Heating due to $e^-$ Capture and Nuclear Excitation in Heavy Ion Colliders

Abstract

At heavy ion colliders, two major sources of beam loss are expected to be $e^+e^-$ production, where the $e^-$ is bound to one of the nuclei, and photonuclear excitation and decay via neutron emission. Both processes alter the ions charged to mass ratio by well defined amounts, creating beams of particles with altered magnetic rigidity. These beams will deposit their energy in a localized region of the accelerator, causing localized heating, The size of the target region depends on the collider optics. For medium and heavy ions, at design luminosity at the Large Hadron Collider, local heating may be more than an order of magnitude higher than expected. This could cause magnet quenches if the local cooling is inadequate. The altered-rigidity beams will also produce localized radiation damage. The beams could also be extracted and used for fixed target experiments.