Study of the Run-3 muon flux at the SND@LHC experiment
Abstract Long-range muons produced in proton–proton collisions at the ATLAS interaction point constitute the primary background for neutrino interaction searches at the SND@LHC experiment. This work presents a comprehensive characterization of the muon flux throughout LHC Run-3, benchmarking Monte Carlo simulations against experimental measurements. Measured and simulated muon rates agree within 10–15% across all Run-3 configurations. Following the substantial background increase in 2024 as a result of a beam optics change, the reversion to nominal optics in 2025 did not restore the 2022–2023 levels due to the unprecedented adoption of horizontal crossing in ATLAS. As indicated by simulation results, horizontal crossing enhanced the contribution of high-angle muons originating from diffractive proton losses in the LHC Dispersion Suppressor region. Their identification enabled the design of mitigation strategies that were experimentally validated. The simulation framework was also applied to the future high-luminosity LHC configuration, resulting in a considerable muon rate rise, driven by both the planned luminosity increase and the enlarged magnet aperture. Nevertheless, the upgrade from emulsion films to silicon vertex detectors will preserve the efficiency of the experiment even in such a high-rate environment.
Authors
- F. Lasagni Manghi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6068-4473)
- A. Fiorillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9382-3899)
- A. Alexandrov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1813-1485)
- F. Cindolo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4255-7347)
- Cristiana Di Cristo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6578-4502)
- F. Cerutti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9236-6223)
- C. Dinç (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0179-7341)
- S. Kuleshov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3065-326X)
- A. M. Guler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5692-2694)
- A. Chiuchiolo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4192-5021)
- V. P. Loschiavo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5757-8274)
- M. Climescu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9831-4370)
- A. Iuliano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6087-9633)
- C. Betancourt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9886-7427)
- A. De Rújula (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1545-668X)
- A. Lauria (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9020-9718)
- A. Blanco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9827-8294)
- G. Haefeli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9257-839X)
- M. Ferrillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1052-2198)
- M. Komatsu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6423-707X)
- Giuseppe Lerner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0976-4993)
- A. Cervelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0518-1459)
- W. Bonivento (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6764-6787)
- G. Klioutchnikov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5159-4649)
- C. Guandalini
- M. Ayala-Torres (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4296-9464)
- S. De Pasquale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9236-0748)
- M. de Magistris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0814-3041)
- O. Durhan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6097-788X)
- V. Boccia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3532-6222)
- G. De Lellis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5862-1174)
- C. Hagner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6345-7022)
- E. Graverini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4647-6429)
- S. H. Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3788-9267)
- Oreste Fecarotta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0471-8821)
- A. Anokhina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4654-4535)
- Fabrizio Aloschi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2501-7525)
- E. van Herwijnen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8807-8811)
- Juan Carlos Helo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5310-8598)
- R. Donà (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2460-7515)
- Alexey Boyarsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0629-7119)
- Katia Genovese (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3224-0944)
- A. Bay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4862-9399)
- Yeong Gyun Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4312-2959)
- G. Galati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7348-3312)
- G. De Marzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5752-2315)
- C. Battilana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3753-3068)
- N. Funicello (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7814-319X)
- S. Ilieva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9204-2563)
- Kang Young Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8613-7451)
- A. Di Crescenzo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4276-8512)
- R. Fresa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5140-0299)
- Daniele Davino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7492-8173)
- V. Canale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2303-9306)
- M. Bogomilov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7738-2041)
- A. Golutvin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2500-8247)
- R. Biswas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7034-6706)
- E. Khalikov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6957-6452)
- D. Bonacorsi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0835-9574)
- R. Albanese (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4586-8068)
- N. D’Ambrosio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9849-8756)
- Luciano Arellano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1093-1824)
- G. M. Dallavalle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8614-0420)
- O. Lantwin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2384-5973)
- M. Chernyavskiy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6871-5753)
- D. Centanni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6566-9838)
- N. S. Konovalova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7916-9105)
- Anni Kauniskangas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4285-8027)
- F. Alicante (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3240-830X)
- P. De Bryas Dexmiers D‘archiac (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9925-5753)
- A. De Roeck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9228-5271)
- Ki-Young Choi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7604-6644)
- S. Ahmad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8236-6134)
- D. Bick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5657-8248)
- P. Bordalo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3651-6370)
- D. Di Ferdinando (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4644-1752)
- Angelo Infantino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7854-3502)
- D. Gigi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0422-6739)
- D. Fasanella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2926-2691)
- D. Abbaneo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9416-1742)
- H. Lacker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7183-8607)
- K. S. Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3680-7039)
- L. Guiducci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6013-8293)
- S. Buontempo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9526-556X)
- C. Asawatangtrakuldee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2234-7219)
- T. Camporesi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5066-1876)
- V. Guliaeva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3676-5040)
- K. Androsov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2694-6542)
- Sebastian Alonso Infante Cabanas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6929-5555)
- V. Chariton
- R. De Asmundis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7268-8401)
- Anna Mascellani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6362-5356)
- M.A. Diaz Gutierrez
- V. Giordano
- M. Majstorovic
- G. Del Giudice
- I. Dionisov
- N. Bangaru
- I. Landi
- W.-C. Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8519-9802)
Institutions
- University of Pisa (IT)
- Gwangju National University of Education (KR)
- Leiden University (NL)
- Georgian Technical University (GE)
- Universidad Andrés Bello (CL)
- Chulalongkorn University (TH)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- University of Sannio (IT)
- University of Cagliari (IT)
- Parthenope University of Naples (IT)
- Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (UA)
- Gyeongsang National University (KR)
- Millennium Institute (BR)
- Middle East Technical University (TR)
- University of Basilicata (IT)
- University of Siegen (DE)
- LIP - Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics (PT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (IT)
- Constructing Excellence (GB)
- Ghent University Hospital (BE)
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Cicatelli Associates (US)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Napoli (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari (IT)
- FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ)
- Innovation Cluster (Canada) (CA)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna (IT)
- Institut für Technische und Angewandte Physik (Germany) (DE)
- Atilim University (TR)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT)
- Nagoya University (JP)
- European Organization for Nuclear Research (CH)
- University of Naples Federico II (IT)
- University of La Serena (CL)
- Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PK)
- Sungkyunkwan University (KR)
- University of Bologna (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The European Physical Journal C
- Published
- 2026-06-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-026-15875-x
- Primary Topic
- Particle Detector Development and Performance
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- CERN
- Türkiye Enerji, Nükleer ve Maden Araştırma Kurumu
- National Research Foundation
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan
- Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
- U.S. Bureau of Land Management
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
- Nuclear Physics