HERA Luminosity Run 2005 successfully completed

After 330 days the HERA luminosity operation with electrons and protons ended on November 14,
after a very successful run. Altogether, the luminosity (measure of the collision rate) delivered by HERA to the H1 and ZEUS experiments exceeded 200 pb-1. This very good result was remarkable because more critical backgrounds had been expected for the electron proton run, compared with the positron operation of the preceding year. This year, the peak luminosity corresponded to the goal of the HERA luminosity upgrade. This result convincingly demonstrates that in spite of initial problems, the HERA upgrade produced a significant increase of the total HERA luminosity.

This success is based on the commitment and the enthusiasm of our colleagues of the accelerator department and on the excellent collaboration between machine groups and HERA experiments.

A series of system improvements have already been carried out in the HERA run 2005, others will follow during shut down till January 26, 2006. It is expected that this will lead to further improvements of the HERA performance in the coming one and a half years. HERA will resume luminosity operation in February 2006.