Performance of the CERN Injector Complex and Transmission Studies into the LHC during the Second Proton-Lead Run

The LHC performance during the proton-lead run in 2016 fully relied on a permanent monitoring and systematic improvement of the beam quality in all the injectors. The beam production and characteristics are explained in this paper, together with the improvements realized during the run from the source up to the flat top of the LHC. Transmission studies from one accelerator to the next as well as beam quality evolution studies during the cycle at each accelerator, have been carried out and are summarized in this paper. In 2016, the LHC had to deliver the beams to the experiments at two different energies, 4 Z TeV and 6.5 Z TeV. The properties of the beams at these two energies are also presented