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The CASTOR calorimeter at the CMS experiment

The CASTOR Calorimeter at the CMS experiment is an electromagnetic/hadronic calorimeter which covers the very forward region of the detector (-6.6 < eta < -5.2). CASTOR is a Cherenkov sampling calorimeter, consisting of quartz and tungsten plates, with an overall depth of 10 interaction lengths, able to detect penetrating cascade particles. It is segmented in 16 transversal and 14 longitudinal sections. Surrounding the beam pipe, its design is determined by space constraints and restricted to materials which tolerate a high radiation level. In this presentation we report on the operational experience and measurements with the CASTOR calorimeter during the 2010 data taking at the LHC, with proton-proton and heavy ion collisions. An overview of the broad physics program which can be accessed with CASTOR, as well as the status of published and ongoing physics analyses and detector studies are presented.