Decelerating beams: first ever at the complex

The new experimental run of VEPP-2000 complex started in November. In contrast to previous high energy scan, current data taking (experiment RHO2017) is dedicated to energy region below 500 MeV per beam. Started at Phi-meson the scan is currently moved below 390 MeV. It is the energy level of the beams provided by new BINP Injection Comlex. It means that for top-up injection to VEPP-2000 collider the beams now are decelerating at our booster synchrotron BEP, for the first time at the VEPP-2/2M/2000 complex! VEPP-2000 already took data at the beam energies as low as 180 MeV but with it's own old injection and positron production system. It provided low-intensive beams at the energy of 120 MeV thus always being accelerated in the booster.
Apart from the mentioned curious fact the VEPP-2000 demonstrates at the given energy range unprecedently high peak luminosity (above 10^31cm-2s-1 @ 390 MeV). It is almost twice higher than the value achieved during the first low-energy run in 2013 and nearly one order of magnitude higher than luminosity of VEPP-2M. Let's remind that machine exploits so called Round Colliding Beams concept to suppress the beam-beam effects but operates in 1x1 bunch mode only.