Most Probable Failures in LHC Magnets and Time Constants of their Effects on the Beam.

During the LHC operation, energies up to 360 MJ will be stored in each proton beam and over 10 GJ in the main electrical circuits. With such high energies, beam losses can quickly lead to important equipment damage. The Machine Protection Systems have been designed to provide reliable protection of the LHC through detection of the failures leading to beam losses and fast dumping of the beams. In order to determine the protection strategies, it is important to know the time constants of the failure effects on the beam. In this report, we give an estimation of the time constants of quenches and powering failures in LHC magnets. The most critical failures are powering failures in certain normal conducting circuits, leading to relevant effects on the beam in ~1 ms. The failures on super conducting magnets leading to fastest losses are quenches. In this case, the effects on the beam can be signficant ~10 ms after the quench occurs.