Tevatron sets all-time luminosity record of 36 E30

At 8:50 a.m. on Wednesday, October 9, beam experts at Fermilab pushed the performance of the Tevatron accelerator to an all-time high. The Tevatron, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, achieved a peak luminosity of 36 E30 inverse square centimeters per second, a measure for the collision rate of protons and antiprotons. Scientists are eager to increase luminosity and hence to produce more collisions, increasing the chance of observing new particle reactions involving quarks and other fundamental building blocks of matter.

The previous all-time Tevatron luminosity record was at 33.5 E30. The Run I record, achieved in 1995, is at 25.0 E30. In the near future, Fermilab scientists aim to achieve a luminosity of 40 E30.

When the Tevatron accelerator was originally constructed in 1983, the first luminosity goal was 1 E30. This first performance goal set a precedent of quoting luminosity in units of E30. The Tevatron's latest achievement of 36 E30 compared to its first goal of 1 E30, demonstrates the progress of the accelerator over the years.

In addition to setting a new record for the collision rate, on Wednesday, October 2, scientists achieved a goal of transferring 5x10¹¹ antiprotons into the Recycler storage ring, where they circled the ring with a lifetime of 105 hours. In the future, scientists will use the antiprotons stored in the Recycler to reinject them into the Tevatron, further increasing the peak luminosity.

For more information on the Tevatron’s performance, please check www.fnal.gov/pub/now/index.html.