Availability Studies for Linac4 and Machine Protection Requirements for Linac4 Commissioning

Linac4 is one of the key elements in the upgrade program of the LHC injector complex at CERN, assuring beams with higher bunch intensities and smaller emittance for the LHC and many other physics experiments on the CERN site. Due to the demand of continuous operation, the expected availability of Linac4 needs to be carefully studied already during its design phase. In this paper an overview of the relevant systems impacting on Linac4 machine availability is given: the various system failure modes are outlined as well as their impact on the total yearly machine downtime. Machine Protection Systems (MPS) play a significant role in reducing the risk associated to each failure mode and are therefore important for reaching the target availability. The Linac4 MPS requirements, with particular focus on the different commissioning phases, are discussed.