CERN Accelerating science

Shift booking opportunities:
 

• !!! CRITICAL !!! Three SL blocks: October 12-21
   
• Expert shift blocks for all roles are also still available during the HI period in October / November, particularly during the p-p reference run:
  SL block: Oct 24-29
  Partial SL block: Oct 26-27 (2 nights)
  Partial QC block: Oct 26-27 (2 nights)
  ECS block: Oct 26-31
  
  Shifts booking via SAMS.
   

• ALICE Run Manager (30 Sep - 13 Oct): Silvia Pisano

• ALICE Run Manager (14 Oct - 27 Oct): Michal Broz
• LHC and P2 news:
   
  • LHC:
    The LHC continued physics production quite efficiently during the past week, with a fraction of time in stable beams close to 70% despite several fills were dumped prematurely due to various issues. The overall luminosity production has now reached 120/fb in ATLAS and CMS, well above the overall predicted value for the whole 2024 p-p run.
    
    The p-p physics production will continue until Wednesday 16/10 at noon, when the first part of the MD5 tests will start. The MD5 activities will be shortly interrupted on Thursday for a VIP visit at P5, and will then resume until Monday 21/10 morning, when the three-day Technical Stop 2 (TS2) will start.
     
  • P2 operations:
    ALICE has further integrated statistics in the positive magnets configuration, reaching more than 50/pb of recorded p-p collisions! The data taking proceeded smoothly and efficiently, with all detectors routinely included in the global runs. We will continue to collect physics events until the beginning of MD5, which will mark the end of the p-p 13.6 TeV data taking in 2024.
    
    After the completion of TS2 the machine plans to perform a first measurement of the Pb beam background in a commissioning fill with individual bunches, to assess as early as possible the situation with the 2024 optics. ALICE will provide essential feedback with the ITS and ZDC detectors, and eventual further mitigation measures will then be investigated during the p-p reference data taking.
    
    The commissioning of the p-p reference run will start on October 26th, and we expect to have the first collisions in stable beams around October 28. After a short intensity ramp-up and the VdM scans, the physics production at full machine is expected to take place between October 30 and November 3.