LER-LHC injector workshop summary and super-ferric fast cycling injector in the SPS tunnel

A Workshop on Low Energy Ring (LER) in the LHC tunnel as main injector was convened at CERN on October 11-12, 2006. We present the outline of the LER based on the presentations, and respond to the raised questions and discussions including the post-workshop studies. We also outline the possibility of using the LER accelerator technologies for the fast cycling injector accelerator in the SPS tunnel (SF-SPS). A primary goal for the LER (Low Energy Ring) injector accelerator is to inject 1.5 TeV proton beams into the LHC, instead of the current injection scheme with 0.45 TeV beams from the SPS. At this new energy, the field harmonics [1] of the LHC magnets are sufficiently satisfactory to prevent the luminosity losses expected to appear when applying the transfer of the 0.45 TeV SPS beams. In addition, a feasibility study of batch slip stacking in the LER has been undertaken with a goal of increasing in this way the LHC luminosity by up to a factor of 4. A combined luminosity increase may, therefore, be in the range of an order of magnitude. In the long term, the LER injector accelerator would greatly facilitate the implementation of a machine, which doublesmore » the LHC energy (DLHC).« less