HERA status

The electron-proton collider HERA (Hadron-Electron Ring Accelerator) consists of two independent accelerators designed to store, respectively, 820-GeV protons and 30-GeV electrons and to collide the counterrotating beams head on in four interaction regions spaced uniformly around its 6.3 km circumference. In addition to HERA, several booster accelerators must either be constructed or modified. The civil engineering work has been completed; electrons were stored for the first time in the HERA electron ring in August 1988. Commissioning of the first two accelerators in the proton injection chain, the 50-MeV H/sup -/ linear accelerator and the 7.5-GeV DESY III synchrotron, has started. The central helium refrigerators have been running routinely for nearly two years. Production of superconducting magnets is well underway in industry, and the first magnets have already been installed in the tunnel.<
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