Proton reconstruction with the CMS-TOTEM Precision Proton Spectrometer

TL;DR

This paper details the calibration, reconstruction, and validation of the CMS-TOTEM Precision Proton Spectrometer, demonstrating its effective operation at high luminosity for proton detection in LHC collisions.

Contribution

It introduces the calibration and reconstruction procedures for PPS, validating its performance and feasibility at high luminosity proton-proton collisions.

Findings

Successful calibration and alignment of PPS

Effective proton reconstruction and simulation validation

Demonstrated continuous operation at high luminosity

Abstract

The Precision Proton Spectrometer (PPS) of the CMS and TOTEM experiments collected 107.7 fb$^{-1}$ in proton-proton (pp) collisions at the LHC at 13 TeV (Run 2). This paper describes the key features of the PPS alignment and optics calibrations, the proton reconstruction procedure, as well as the detector efficiency and the performance of the PPS simulation. The reconstruction and simulation are validated using a sample of (semi)exclusive dilepton events. The performance of PPS has proven the feasibility of continuously operating a near-beam proton spectrometer at a high luminosity hadron collider.