Tevatron sets all-time luminosity record of 26.4E30

On July 26, at 2:48 p.m., 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 26.4E30 inverse square centimeters per second, a measure for the collision rate of protons and antiprotons inside the accelerator tunnel. 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 record for the Tevatron was set in 1995 with a value of 25.0E30. At that time, such good performance lasted only for brief periods. Since then, Fermilab’s chain of accelerators has undergone a five-year period of major improvements, including the construction of the Main Injector accelerator. In March 2001, physicists resumed collider operations and began recording proton-antiproton collisions with the improved CDF and DZero detectors. The new luminosity record marks an important milestone on the way to achieving the luminosity goal of 80E30. Scientists expect to set a series of new records in the coming weeks and months.

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