Luminosity (scattering theory)
In scattering theory and accelerator physics, luminosity (L) is the ratio of the number of events detected (N) in a certain time (t) to the interaction cross-section (σ):
It has the dimensions of events per time per area, and is usually expressed in the cgs units of cm−2·s−1 or the non-SI units of b−1·s−1. In practice, L is dependent on the particle beam parameters, such as beam width and particle flow rate, as well as the target properties, such as target size and density.
A related quantity is integrated luminosity (Lint), which is the integral of the luminosity with respect to time:
The luminosity and integrated luminosity are useful values to characterize the performance of a particle accelerator. In particular, all collider experiments aim to maximize their integrated luminosities, as the higher the integrated luminosity, the more data is available to analyze.
Here are a few examples of the luminosity of certain accelerators.
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