Proton Synchrotron

This article is about the particle accelerator at CERN. For proton synchrotrons in general, see Synchrotron.

The surface above the PS at CERN. After more than 55 years, the ring-shaped accelerator is hardly visible due to later constructions. However it can still be seen as a raised area in the lower left part of the photo.

The Proton Synchrotron (PS) is the oldest major particle accelerator at CERN, built as a 28 GeV proton accelerator in the late 1950s and put into operation in 1959. It takes the protons from the Proton Synchrotron Booster at a kinetic energy of 1.4 GeV and lead ions from the Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) at 72 MeV per nucleon. It has been operated as an injector for the Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR), the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP). The accelerator is part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) injector chain, accelerating protons and heavy ions.

It has also been used as a particle source for other experiments, such as the Gargamelle bubble chamber for which it supplied a neutrino beam. This led to the discovery of the weak neutral current in 1974.

The PS machine is a circular accelerator with a circumference of 628.3 m. It is a versatile machine having accelerated protons, antiprotons, electrons, positrons and species of ions. Major upgrades have improved its performance by more than a factor of 1000 since 1959. The only significant components remaining from its original installation some 50 years ago are the bending magnets and the buildings.

European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)

Large Hadron Collider (LHC)	List of LHC experiments ALICE ATLAS CMS LHCb LHCf MoEDAL TOTEM

Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP)	List of LEP experiments ALEPH DELPHI OPAL L3 LEP5 LEP6

Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS)	List of SPS experiments CNGS NA48 NA49 NA58/COMPASS NA60 NA61/SHINE NA62 UA1 UA2

Proton Synchrotron (PS)	PSB LEIR BEBC^[1] PS212/DIRAC PS215/CLOUD Gargamelle ↑ Later an SPS experiment

Linear Accelerators	AWAKE CTF3 LINAC 1 LINAC 2 LINAC 3 LINAC 4

Other Accelerators	AD ISR ISOLDE ISOLTRAP MISTRAL WITCH LEAR PS210 n-TOF

Non-Accelerator Experiments	CAST OSQAR

Future projects	High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider Very Large Hadron Collider International Linear Collider Compact Linear Collider

Related	LHC@home Safety of high-energy particle collision experiments CERN Courier CERN openlab Worldwide LHC Computing Grid Microcosm exhibition Streets in CERN The Globe of Science and Innovation Particle Fever (2013 documentary)

Coordinates: 46°13′55″N 6°02′55″E / 46.23194°N 6.04861°E / 46.23194; 6.04861

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