Physics opportunities with a fixed target experiment at the LHC (AFTER@LHC)

Cynthia Hadjidakis (1) , M. Anselmino , R. Arnaldi , S.J. Brodsky , V. Chambert , C. da Silva , J.P. Didelez (1) , M.G. Echevarria , Elena Ferreiro , F. Fleuret (2) , Y. Gao , B. Genolini (1, 3) , I. Hrivnácová (1) , D. Kikola , A. Klein , A. Kurepin , A. Kusina , J.P. Lansberg (1) , C. Lorcé (4) , F. Lyonnet , G. Martinez (5) , L. Massacrier (1) , A. Nass , C. Pisano , P. Robbe (6) , Ingo Schienbein (7) , M. Schlegel , E. Scomparin , J. Seixas , H.S. Shao (8) , Andrea Signori , E. Steffens , L. Szymanowski , N. Topilskaya , B. Trzeciak , U.I. Uggerhøj , A. Uras (9) , R. Ulrich , J. Wagner , N. Yamanaka (1) , Z. Yang

1 IPNO - Institut de Physique Nucléaire d'Orsay
2 LLR - Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet
3 IJCLab - Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Irène Joliot-Curie
4 CPHT - Centre de Physique Théorique [Palaiseau]
5 SUBATECH - Laboratoire de physique subatomique et des technologies associées
6 LAL - Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire
7 LPSC - Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie
8 LPTHE - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Hautes Energies
9 IPNL - Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon

By extracting the beam with a bent crystal or by using an internal gas target, the multi-TeV proton and lead LHC beams allow one to perform the most energetic fixed-target experiments (AFTER@LHC) and to study $p$+$p$ and $p$+A collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=115 GeV and Pb+$p$ and Pb+A collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=72 GeV. Such studies would address open questions in the domain of the nucleon and nucleus partonic structure at high-$x$, quark-gluon plasma and, by using longitudinally or transversally polarised targets, spin physics. In this paper, we discuss the physics opportunities of a fixed-target experiment at the LHC and we report on the possible technical implementations of a high-luminosity experiment. We finally present feasibility studies for Drell-Yan, open heavy-flavour and quarkonium production, with an emphasis on high-$x$ and spin physics.

Mots clés: talk: Kaist 2017/10/16; p p: scattering; p p: colliding beams; quarkonium: hadroproduction; p nucleus: interaction; lead; heavy ion: scattering; quark gluon: plasma; gas: target; CERN LHC Coll; spin; Drell-Yan process; polarized target; bent crystal; heavy quark; nucleon: structure function; nucleus: structure function; experimental results; 72 GeV-cms/nucleon; 115 GeV-cms

Domaines: Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]; Physique des Hautes Energies - Expérience [hep-ex]

Cynthia Hadjidakis, M. Anselmino, R. Arnaldi, S.J. Brodsky, V. Chambert, et al.. Physics opportunities with a fixed target experiment at the LHC (AFTER@LHC). 17th International Workshop on Polarized Sources, Targets, and Polarimetry, Oct 2017, Kaist, South Korea. pp.035, ⟨10.22323/1.324.0035⟩. ⟨hal-01833751⟩