«Leading» physics at LHC including machine studies plus detector R&D (LAA)

Summary  It is proposed to improve the acceptance for leading-proton detection (LPD) at LHC by at least an order of magnitude. A direct application of this LPD technology is its use as a leading-proton missing-mass spectrometer (LPMMS) with very high mass-resolution power. This allows the search for massive states (including Higgs) produced in association with two leading protons, without any need to know their decay channels. The coupling of the LPD technology with other very forward detectors for muons plus EM & Hadronic calorimetry, in addition to an existing upgraded set-up, will allow a study of the «Leading Effect» and of its consequences in a wide range of high-energy QCD phenomena, including non-perturbative effects. This physics programme is complementary to what has been studied so far for the LHC.