arXiv subjects

P. Costa Pinto

Publications and source records attributed to P. Costa Pinto.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

LHCspin: a Polarized Gas Target for LHC

The goal of the LHCspin project is to develop innovative solutions for measuring the 3D structure of nucleons in high-energy polarized fixed-target collisions at LHC, exploring new processes and exploiting new probes in a unique, previously unexplored, kinematic regime. A precise multi-dimensional description of the hadron structure has, in fact, the potential to deepen our understanding of the strong interactions and to provide a much more precise framework for measuring both Standard Model and Beyond Standard Model observables. This ambitious task poses its basis on the recent experience with the successful installation and operation of the SMOG2 unpolarized gas target in front of the LHCb spectrometer. Besides allowing for interesting physics studies ranging from astrophysics to heavy-ion physics, SMOG2 provides an ideal benchmark for studying beam-target dynamics at the LHC and demonstrates the feasibility of simultaneous operation with beam-beam collisions. With the installation of the proposed polarized target system, LHCb will become the first experiment to simultaneously collect data from unpolarized beam-beam collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=14 TeV and polarized and unpolarized beam-target collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}\sim$100 GeV. LHCspin has the potential to open new frontiers in physics by exploiting the capabilities of the world's most powerful collider and one of the most advanced spectrometers. This document also highlights the need to perform an R\&D campaign and the commissioning of the apparatus at the LHC Interaction Region 4 during the Run 4, before its final installation in LHCb. This opportunity could also allow to undertake preliminary physics measurements with unprecedented conditions.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

Plasma treated metals after H- irradiation and its effect on vacuum breakdown behaviour

Vacuum breakdown in accelerator structures is a critical challenge that occurs under high electric fields. In environments subjected to hydrogen ion irradiation or high beam losses, such as in Radio-Frequency Quadrupoles (RFQ), residual hydrocarbons from the vacuum may result in carbon contamination of the metal surfaces from charged particle induced cracking. Under these conditions, it has been assessed that surface carbon contamination leads to a decrement of the surface electric field holding properties. This study extends the latest research by exploring the efficacy of Oxygen Plasma Cleaning (OPC) on metal electrodes irradiated by low energy hydrogen ion beam with the purpose of reducing surface carbon contamination. OPC treatment has been employed on different metals, namely copper beryllium (CuBe2), oxygen-free copper (Cu-OFE), and stainless steel (SS316LN). Treated electrodes have been tested for electric field performance in a DC pulsed system and results compared with non-irradiated electrodes and irradiated ones without OPC treatment. The study indicates a significant reduction in carbon contamination by OPC, enough to allow irradiated materials to achieve performances comparable with the electric field strength of raw surfaces. Moreover, it has been observed that stainless steel samples had some alteration in the surface chemistry that enhanced the materials ability to sustain high electric fields while decreasing vacuum arcing events. Notably, OPC treated SS316LN electrodes surpassed the performance value of untreated ones, demonstrating the potential of plasma treatments in extending the operational performance of accelerator components.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2024

High-density gas target at the LHCb experiment

The recently installed internal gas target at LHCb presents exceptional opportunities for an extensive physics program for heavy-ion, hadron, spin, and astroparticle physics. A storage cell placed in the LHC primary vacuum, an advanced Gas Feed System, the availability of multi-TeV proton and ion beams and the recent upgrade of the LHCb detector make this project unique worldwide. In this paper, we outline the main components of the system, the physics prospects it offers and the hardware challenges encountered during its implementation. The commissioning phase has yielded promising results, demonstrating that fixed-target collisions can occur concurrently with the collider mode without compromising efficient data acquisition and high-quality reconstruction of beam-gas and beam-beam interactions.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2013

Carbon coating of the SPS dipole chambers

The Electron Multipacting (EM) phenomenon is a limiting factor for the achievement of high luminosity in accelerators for positively charged particles and for the performance of RF devices. At CERN, the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) must be upgraded in order to feed the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with 25 ns bunch spaced beams. At such small bunch spacing, EM may limit the performance of the SPS and consequently that of the LHC. To mitigate this phenomenon CERN is developing a carbon thin film coating with low Secondary Electron Yield (SEY) to coat the internal walls of the SPS dipoles beam pipes. This paper presents the progresses in the coating technology, the performance of the carbon coatings and the strategy for a large scale production.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2013

Novel types of anti-ecloud surfaces

In high power RF devices for space, secondary electron emission appears as the main parameter governing the multipactor effect and as well as the e-cloud in large accelerators. Critical experimental activities included development of coatings with low secondary electron emission yield (SEY) for steel (large accelerators) and aluminium (space applications). Coatings with surface roughness of high aspect ratio producing the so-call secondary emission suppression effect appear as the selected strategy. In this work a detailed study of the SEY of these technological coatings and also the experimental deposition methods (PVD and electrochemical) are presented. The coating-design approach selected for new low SEY coatings include rough metals (Ag, Au, Al), rough alloys (NEG), particulated and magnetized surfaces, and also graphene like coatings. It was found that surface roughness also mitigate the SEY deterioration due to aging processes.

physics.acc-ph↗