The Heavy Photon Search (HPS) is an experiment to search for a hidden sector
photon, aka a heavy photon or dark photon, in fixed target electroproduction at
the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). The HPS experiment
searches for the e$^+$e$^-$ decay of the heavy photon with bump hunt and
detached vertex strategies using a compact, large acceptance forward
spectrometer, consisting of a silicon microstrip detector (SVT) for tracking
and vertexing, and a PbWO$_4$ electromagnetic calorimeter for energy
measurement and fast triggering. To achieve large acceptance and good vertexing
resolution, the first layer of silicon detectors is placed just 10 cm
downstream of the target with the sensor edges only 500 $\mu$m above and below
the beam. Placing the SVT in such close proximity to the beam puts stringent
requirements on the beam profile and beam position stability. As part of an
approved engineering run, HPS took data in 2015 and 2016 at 1.05 GeV and 2.3
GeV beam energies, respectively. This paper describes the beam line and its
performance during that data taking.
