Overview of ATLAS forward proton detectors: status, performance and new physics results

TL;DR

This paper reviews the status, performance, and recent physics results of the ATLAS forward proton detectors at the LHC, which are crucial for studying rare proton interactions involving intact scattered protons.

Contribution

It provides an overview of the ATLAS forward proton detectors, detailing their current performance and presenting new physics results obtained with these specialized instruments.

Findings

Successful operation of AFP and ALFA detectors in measuring forward protons.

First physics results demonstrating the detectors' capabilities.

Enhanced understanding of photon-photon and QCD interactions involving intact protons.

Abstract

A key focus of the physics program at the LHC is the study of head-on proton-proton collisions. However, an important class of physics can be studied for cases where the protons narrowly miss one another and remain intact. In such cases, the electromagnetic fields surrounding the protons can interact producing high-energy photon-photon collisions. Alternatively, interactions mediated by the strong force can also result in intact forward scattered protons, providing probes of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In order to aid identification and provide unique information about these rare interactions, the instrumentation to detect and measure protons scattered through very small angles is installed in the beam pipe far downstream of the interaction point. We describe the ATLAS Forward Proton `Roman Pot' detectors (AFP and ALFA), their performance of Tracking and Time-of-Flight detectors, and first results.