Alignment-related Effects in Forward Proton Experiments at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper investigates how misalignment of forward proton detectors at the LHC affects measurement accuracy and determines the necessary alignment precision for various physics analyses.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of the impact of detector misalignment on acceptance and kinematic reconstruction, offering guidelines for alignment accuracy in future experiments.

Findings

Misalignment significantly affects geometric acceptance.

Proper alignment is crucial for accurate proton kinematic reconstruction.

Alignment precision requirements vary with measurement type.

Abstract

The activity in the field of diffractive physics at the Large Hadron Collider has been constantly increasing. This includes the planning for additional dedicated apparatus -- horizontal forward proton detectors. This work focuses on the problems related to the alignment of such devices. The effects of the misalignment of the detectors on their geometric acceptance and on the reconstruction of the proton kinematics are studied. The requirements for the alignment precision are inferred for different types of possible measurements.