The ATLAS Forward Physics Project

TL;DR

This paper details the design and components of the ATLAS Forward Physics project, including detectors and timing systems that enable detection of intact protons at the LHC with high precision.

Contribution

It introduces a novel detector setup with advanced silicon and timing detectors for forward physics measurements at the LHC.

Findings

Successful integration of 3D silicon detectors with FE-I4 readout

Achieved timing resolution of 10-15 picoseconds

Enhanced capability to detect intact protons in final states

Abstract

We describe the main components of the ATLAS Forward Physics project, namely the movable beam pipe, the tracking and timing detectors which allow to detect intact protons in the final state at the LHC. The position detector is composed on 6 layers of 3D silicon detectors readout by FE-I4 chips developped for ATLAS. The fast timing detector is built from a quartz-based Cerenkov detector coupled to a microchannel plate photomultiplier tube, followed by the electronic elements that amplify, measure, and record the time of the event along with a stabilized reference clock signal, ensuring a time resolution of 10-15 picoseconds.