Timeline in the TOTEM experiment
APRIL 2012
- Track multiplicities published
OCTOBER 2011
- First results published on total cross-section
SEPTEMBER 2011
- First measurement of the total cross-section
March 2010
- T2 reconstruct tracks during the first LHC run of the year.
- Collisions are seen by Roman Pots as well.
December 2009
- Installation in the tunnel and commissioning of the stations of Roman Pots at 220m distance from the interaction point IP5.
October 2009
- Installation in the CMS cavern and commissioning of T2 (both telescopes).
- Assembly and test of one complete half (i.e. one telescope) of T1.
November 2008
- Roman Pots fully equipped with silicon detectors.
- Roman Pots tested with a beam coming from the PS in the test-beam area.
- T2 GEM chambers completely tested with a test-beam.
February 2008
- The 10 edgeless silicon detectors forming the heart of the experiment are assembled for final testing before they are installed in the special vacuum vessels called 'Roman Pots' at IP5 interaction point.
October 2007
- The Roman pots are installed in the LHC tunnel. The detectors housed in these eight specially designed vacuum chambers are connected to the beam pipes in the LHC, close to the collision point of the CMS experiment.
April 2007
- The Roman Pots are assembled. Named after the CERN group of Italian physicists from Rome, who invented these tools for use at the CERN's ISR (Intersecting Storage Rings, the world's first high-energy proton–proton collider in the early 1970s to study similar physics), the Roman Pots will be located very close to the beam pipe to capture particles that scatter at very small angles.
May 2006
- The Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) chambers are arranged in their intended configuration for the first time. Of almost semicircular shape, the GEMs will measure the forward particle flow in an annular region around the beam pipe. To avoid efficiency loss, the angular coverage of each half plane is more than 180°.
November 2005
- The first prototype of Roman Pots is ready for testing. Since the experiment will detect particles produced very close to the LHC beams, it's detectors have to be housed in these specially designed vacuum chambers.
July 2004
- Proposed in 1997, TOTEM is officially approved as the fifth LHC experiment, studying forward particle production to focus on physics not easily accessible to the general-purpose experiments. Among a range of studies it will determine the size of the proton by high precision measurements of proton-proton interactions and scattering. Only one month later, the collaboration presents the first prototype of its edgeless silicon detector.