physics

Low Energy Ion Ring

Low Energy Ion Ring is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Low Energy Ion Ring rather than just read about it. In short: The Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) is a particle accelerator at CERN used to accelerate ions from the LINAC 3 to the Proton Synchrotron (PS) to provide ions for collisions within the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). History LEIR was converted from a previous machine, the Low Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR), a facility to decelerate and store antiprotons and to deliver them to experiments; the last LEAR antiproton run took pla…

Key takeaways

Low Energy Ion Ring belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Low Energy Ion Ring to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Low Energy Ion Ring from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

History LEIR was converted from a previous machine, the Low Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR), a facility to decelerate and store antiprotons and to deliver them to experiments; the last LEAR antiproton run took place in 1996. LEIR was first proposed in 1993 but it wasn't until 2003 that work to transform the old experiment into the new accelerator was started. The upgrade took just over two years, being commissioned in October 2005 and tested for 4 months. In Autumn 2006 it was used to re-commission the PS to handle ions, and then again a year later it was used to re-commission the SPS. However, it wasn't until November 2010, five years later, that it successfully carried out its primary role to provide the lead ions to the LHC for its first ion collisions. During 2017, LEIR was running with xenon ions, sending them normally to SPS and, exceptionally to the LHC for one day of physics. In 2018, the machine was running again with lead ions and had the objective to reach an LIU performance of more than 9×1010 charges extracted. On 6 June 2018 that performance was achieved and also a new extraction record of 10.35×1010 charges was accomplished.

Operation

LEIR takes long bunches of lead-208 ions from the LINAC 3, and splits them into 4 bunches. Each bunch contains 2.2×108 lead ions, which are accelerated from 4.2 MeV per nucleon to 72 MeV per nucleon before passing them through to the PS for storage. The most important function of LEIR is not acceleration, but electron cooling to reduce the emittance of the ion beam in order to maintain high luminosity of the final LHC beam. Each group of two bunches takes about 2.5 seconds to accelerate and cool, so with the LHC using 592 bunches of ions, it takes around 10 minutes for a complete fill of the LHC for operations.

References

External links Media related to Low Energy Ion Ring at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Low Energy Ion Ring

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Low Energy Ion Ring claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Low Energy Ion Ring before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Low Energy Ion Ring ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Low Energy Ion Ring

In research: Low Energy Ion Ring appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Low Energy Ion Ring in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Low Energy Ion Ring is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics CERN accelerators, CERN facilities, Particle accelerators, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Low Energy Ion Ring outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Low Energy Ion Ring in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Low Energy Ion Ring means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Low Energy Ion Ring out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Low Energy Ion Ring in simple terms?

The Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) is a particle accelerator at CERN used to accelerate ions from the LINAC 3 to the Proton Synchrotron (PS) to provide ions for collisions within the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). History LEIR was converted from a previous machine, the Low Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR)…

Why does Low Energy Ion Ring matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Low Energy Ion Ring?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Low Energy Ion Ring.