Van der Meer scan luminosity measurement and beam-beam correction

The main method for calibrating the luminosity at Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is van der Meer scan where the beams are swept transversely across each other. This beautiful method was invented in 1968. Despite the honourable age, it remains the preferable tool at hadron colliders. It delivers the lowest calibration systematics, which still often dominates the overall luminosity uncertainty at LHC experiments. Various details of the method are discussed in the paper. One of the main factors limiting proton-proton van der Meer scan accuracy is the beam-beam electromagnetic interaction. It modifies the shapes of the colliding bunches and biases the measured luminosity. In the first years of operation, four main LHC experiments did not attempt to correct the bias because of its complexity. In 2012 a correction method was proposed and then subsequently used by all experiments. It was based, however, on a simplified linear approximation of the beam-beam force and, therefore, had limited accuracy. In this paper, a new simulation is presented, which takes into account the exact non-linear force. Depending on the beam parameters, the results of the new and old methods differ by similar to 1%. This needs to be propagated to all LHC cross-section measurements after 2012. The new simulation is going to be used at LHC in future luminosity calibrations.

Automated summary

The van der Meer scan is the main method for calibrating luminosity at the LHC, providing the lowest calibration systematics. Despite its honorable age, it remains the preferred tool.