Process / pipelineAccelerator technique

Van der Meer Scan

The Van der Meer scan is a precision measurement technique for determining the absolute luminosity at particle colliders by mechanically separating the colliding beams and measuring the collision rate as a function of beam separation. This fundamental calibration is essential for all cross-section measurements and physics analyses at the LHC and other hadron colliders.

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Sources

  1. Van der Meer, S. (1985). Stochastic damping of betatron oscillations in the ISR. CERN-ISR-PO/85-5. link
  2. Bruning, O., et al. (2004). LHC Design Report. CERN-2004-003. link
  3. Hertzbach, S. S., et al. (2009). Precision measurement of luminosity at hadron colliders. Modern Physics Letters A, 24(07), 531–548. DOI: 10.1142/S0217732309030850

Related methods

ScholarGateVan der Meer Scan (Van der Meer Beam Overlap Measurement). Retrieved 2026-06-04 from https://scholargate.app/en/particle-physics/van-der-meer-scan