Record low β beating in the LHC

Abstract

The LHC is currently operating with a proton energy of 4 TeV and β^{*} functions at the ATLAS and CMS interaction points of 0.6 m. This is close to the design value at 7 TeV (β^{*}=0.55 m) and represented a challenge for various aspects of the machine operation. In particular, a huge effort was put into the optics commissioning and an unprecedented peak β beating of around 7% was achieved in a high energy hadron collider.