The CERN intersecting storage rings: technique and physics

Several problems concerning the use of the CERN intersecting storage rings, the experimental technique and experimental results are discussed. The prominent featureof proton storage rings which is the possibility to obtain high CM energies starting from relatively low laboratory energies and experimenting with relatively low momentum particles has been discussed and the standard set of energies used at the ISR has been given. The collision rates have been calculated and although high for the purpose of typical reactions are low about 107 when compared with conventional accelerators. Three methods to avoid the background problem, which is serious in storage rings because beams see each other with extremely low densities, namely: background runs technique which consists of substracting data from running with one beam from beam-beam data; the geometrical reconstruction method which requires the reconstruction of secondary particle trajectories and their extrapolation to the intersection region; the chronometric selection method which consists of a measurement of time-of-flight (TOF) between two scintillation telescopes in both down-stream directions are described as well as the method of the calibration of beam monitors and the cross-sections normalization. Main experimental results concerning the particle production: π, K, p, antip, γ; particle search: q, W, V0; elastic scattering and the total cross-section are reviewed. (S.B.)