Electron Cloud Heat Load Estimations for the LHC Using Strip and Retarding Field Detectors

The additional heat load on the LHC beam screens of the cold magnets of the LHC bending sections (the arcs represent ~21 km in length) is still considered as one of the main possible limitation of LHC performances. Since more than three years, the characteristics of the electron cloud build up and its effects on the proton beams [1,2,3,4] and the gas pressures in the vacuum chambers at room temperature [5], at 4.5 K [6] and in a NEG coated chamber [7], have been studied in the SPS. All these results helped in benchmarking and refining the simulations.