Collimation quench test with 4 TeV proton beams

In 2013, at the end of the LHC physics run I, several quench tests took place with the aim to measure the quench limit of the LHC superconducting magnets. The LHC superconducting magnets in the dispersion suppressor of IR7 are the most exposed to beam losses leaking from the betatron collimation system and represent the main limitation for the halo cleaning. A collimation quench test was performed with 4 TeV proton beams to improve the quench limit estimates, which determine the maximum allowed beam loss rate for a given collimation cleaning. The main goal of the collimation quench test was to try to quench the magnets by increasing losses at the collimators. This note describes the procedure during the test and the first results with the data. Losses of up to 1 MW over a few seconds were generated by blowing up the beam, achieving total losses of about 5.8 MJ. These controlled losses exceeded by a factor 2 the collimation design value, and the magnets did not quench.