First Cool-down and Test at 4.5 K of the ATLAS Superconducting Barrel Toroid Assembled in the LHC Experimental Cavern

The large ATLAS superconducting magnets system consists of the Barrel, two End-Caps Toroids and the Central Solenoid. The eight separate coils making the Barrel Toroid (BT) have been individually tested with success in a dedicated surface test facility in 2004 and 2005 and afterwards assembled in the underground cavern of the ATLAS experiment. In order to fulfil all the cryogenic scenarios foreseen for these magnets with a cold mass of 370 tons, two separate helium refrigerators and a complex helium distribution system have been used. This paper describes the results of the first cool-down, steady-state operation at 4.5 K and quench recovery of the BT in its final configuration.