Design of beam optics and radiation protection concept for the NA60+ heavy-ion experiment at CERN

TL;DR

This paper presents the design of beam optics and radiation protection for the NA60+ heavy-ion experiment at CERN, focusing on detector integration, beam physics, and safety in a surface hall environment.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive radiation protection concept and beam optics design tailored for NA60+ in a surface hall setting, considering infrastructure reconfiguration.

Findings

Feasibility of integrating NA60+ in the EHN1 hall with modifications.

Radiation shielding requirements identified for safe operation.

Beam optics optimized for high-intensity heavy-ion beams.

Abstract

NA60+ is a fixed target experiment proposed in the framework of the Physics Beyond Colliders programme at CERN. It aims to precisely measure the hard and electromagnetic probes in nuclear collisions. Initially proposed for the underground cavern ECN3 with very high beam intensities, the experiment now foresees a location in the EHN1 surface hall which was shown to have a limited impact on the physics performance in spite of a significant reduction of beam intensity and detector size. The potential installation and operation of the experiment with the ion beams from the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) has been examined regarding detector integration, beam physics, radiation protection and shielding requirements. The integration of the experiment is considered feasible, but would require a significant reconfiguration of the existing hall infrastructure with regards to shielding and layout.