The Performance Assessment and Electrical QA section (PE) is a dynamic team of physicists, electrical engineers and technicians, specialized in the operation and electrical qualification of superconducting accelerator magnets and circuits, and the related protection systems. The section has a broad skillset in electrical diagnostics, data analysis, simulation and modelling (including failure cases). The members of the PE section follow the daily operation of the LHC, and work closely together with equipment and protection experts, as well as with the LHC Operation and Controls teams. They participate in the commissioning of the superconducting magnet circuits and their protection systems and support LHC operation.

The PE section is responsible for:

• a  wide range of R&D, protection studies, simulations, experiments and data analysis aiming for smooth and safe operation of the superconducting circuits of the LHC and HL-LHC.
• the development of tools to simulate and understand the electrical behavior of magnet circuits, focusing on shorts and other non-conformities that could hamper the safe operation of the circuits.
• the electrical integrity of the LHC magnet circuits and the electrical quality assurance program (ElQA) which is performed during consolidation of magnet circuits and hardware commissioning campaigns.
• the development of hardware, software and diagnostics associated with the electrical QA of the superconducting elements of HL-LHC and future projects.
• the installation and maintenance of the cold bypass diodes and R&D related to their functioning at cryogenic temperatures and radiation hardness.
• the operation of ancillary systems installed around the electrical feedboxes of the LHC and HL-LHC, especially the instrumentation feedthrough interface boxes, the so-called ‘proximity equipment’, and the temperature regulators of the current leads in the DFB’s.
• the monitoring of the long-term evolution of the performance of the superconducting magnet circuits.
• coordination of the protection studies of superconducting circuits for possible future projects and accelerators, such as the FCC.