Comparison between measured and simulated beam loss patterns in the CERN SPS

A prototype of an LHC collimator has been tested with proton beams at the CERN SPS. The interaction of the circulating proton beam with the carbon collimator jaws generated secondary proton beams that were lost in the downstream SPS aperture. The measured beam loss patterns are compared with the results of dedicated loss simulations. The simulation package includes (1) a 6D particle tracking through the SPS lattice; (2) the scattering interaction of protons with the collimator jaw material; (3) the timedependent displacement of the collimator jaws with respect to the beam orbit; (4) a detailed aperture model of the full SPS ring. It is shown that the simulation tools can reliably predict the measured location of losses. This provides an important assessment of the simulation tools in view of the beam loss studies for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).