FLUKA simulations

The effect of the LHC beam interactions with the obstacles has been also investigated using particle shower simulations in [8]. This study does not take into account the additional forces acting on an object due to electromagnetic interactions with the beam, which modifies the object trajectory. The outcome of the study is a relation between the beam intensity needed to quench the LHC magnets and the size of the object itself. For beam energy of 3.5 TeV, a nominal bunch intensity and assuming a metallic object of size x (expressed in $\rm\mu m$), the quench should occur if the beam intensity exceeds $\rm 220/x$ bunches. For a plastic object the size must be almost 10 times larger to generate a quench. According to this results, the lack of UFO-generated quenches during the 2010 run suggests that the size of the falling objects is smaller than $\rm0.3~\mu m$ if the object is metallic or $\rm 3~\mu m$ in case of plastic one.