Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) equip the two central layers of the Inner Tracking System of the ALICE experiment at the LHC. Main results of systematic studies of detector performance including noise, gain, drift speed and charge collection measurements will be reported
The ALICE detector has been commissioned and is ready for taking data at the Large Hadron Collider. The first proton-proton collisions are expected in 2009. This contribution describes the current status of the detector, the results of the commissioning phase and its capabilities to contribute to the understanding of both pp and PbPb collisions
ALICE is a general-purpose heavy-ion detector at the CERN LHC. We describe the commissioning activities in the years 2007-2009 and the status of the different subsystems at the time of this conference.
ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the dedicated heavy ion experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The main tracking device of ALICE is a large volume TPC. The milestones of the TPC commissioning as well as the current status of the detector calibration are presented. The obtained resolutions in transverse momentum, position as well as in specific energy loss (dE/dx) are presented and results from noise and electron drift velocity measurements are addressed.
The Inner Tracking System (ITS) is the detector of the ALICE central barrel located closest to the beam axis and it is therefore a key detector for tracking and vertexing performance. Here, the main results from the ITS commissioning with atmospheric muons in 2008 are presented, focusing in particular on the detector operation and calibration and on the methods developed for the alignment of the ITS detectors using reconstructed tracks.
The ALICE experiment, currently in the commissioning phase, will study nucleus-nucleus and proton-proton collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We review the ALICE heavy-flavour physics program.
The ALICE detector was designed to track and identify particles in a wide transverse momentum range, from more than 100 GeV/c down to ~100 MeV/c. The innermost barrel-like detector, the Inner Tracking System (ITS), is dedicated to precise tracking and to primary and secondary vertices reconstruction. In this proceeding we present the ITS performance for tracking, primary vertex reconstruction and particle identification capability. The current understanding of the detector response is the result of an extensive phase of commissioning started with 2008 cosmic-ray run and finalized with data fro…
The ALICE experiment, currently in the commissioning phase, will study nucleus-nucleus and proton-proton collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We review the ALICE heavy-flavour physics program and present a selection of results on the expected performance for the case of proton-proton collisions.
The silicon pixel detector (SPD) of the ALICE experiment in preparation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is designed to provide the precise vertex reconstruction needed for measuring heavy flavor production in heavy ion collisions at very high energies and high multiplicity. The SPD forms the innermost part of the Inner Tracking System (ITS) which also includes silicon drift and silicon strip detectors. Single assembly prototypes of the ALICE SPD have been tested at the CERN SPS using high energy proton/pion beams in 2002 and 2003. We report on the experimental determination of the s…
A detailed study of charge collection efficiency has been performed on the Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) of the ALICE experiment. Three different methods to study the collected charge as a function of the drift time have been implemented. The first approach consists in measuring the charge at different injection distances moving an infrared laser by means of micrometric step motors. The second method is based on the measurement of the charge injected by the laser at fixed drift distance and varying the drift field, thus changing the drift time. In the last method, the measurement of the charge…
The ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) detector yields a huge sample of data from different sub-detectors. On-line data processing is applied to select and reduce the volume of the stored data. ALICE applies a multi-level hardware trigger scheme where fast detectors are used to feed a three-level (L0, L1, and L2) deep chain. The High-Level Trigger (HLT) is a fourth filtering stage sitting logically between the L2 trigger and the data acquisition event building. The EMCal detector comprises a large area electromagnetic calorimeter that extends the momentum measurement of photons and neutra…
The Time Projection Chamber of the ALICE Experiment has been installed in the experimental setup in the underground area at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva. The Alice TPC ReadOut (ALTRO) chip implements intelligent signal processing on the Front-End-Electronics. During the years of 2007 and 2008 commissioning and calibration of the TPC have been carried out with cosmic rays, radioactive Krypton isotopes and with tracks produced by a UV laser system. In addition to these in this publication we present first results on energy loss measurements and on the momentum resolution.
This document describes the plans of the ALICE Collaboration for a major upgrade of its detector, referred to as ALICE 3, which is proposed for physics data-taking in the LHC Run 5 and beyond. ALICE 3 will enable an extensive programme to fully exploit the LHC for the study of the properties of strongly interacting matter with high-energy nuclear collisions. The proposed detector layout, based on advanced silicon sensors, features superb pointing resolution, excellent tracking and particle identification over a large acceptance and high readout-rate capabilities. This document discusses the pr…
The Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) for the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) identifies electrons in p+p and in the challenging high multiplicity environment of heavy-ion collisions and provides fast online tracking for the ALICE Level1 trigger. The TRD is designed to have excellent position resolution and pion rejection capability. Presently, six of the 18 TRD supermodules are installed in the ALICE central barrel. In 2008, four supermodules were installed and commissioning of the detector using cosmic ray tracks was successfully performed. We briefly describe the desig…
The Silicon Tracking System of the E16 experiment at J-PARC: construction, installation and commissioning in beam test experiments
GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH(GSI亥姆霍兹重离子研究中心);Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main(法兰克福歌德大学);Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (IPNS), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)(高能加速器研究机构粒子与核物理研究所);Department of Physics, Kyoto University(京都大学物理系);RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science(理化学研究所仁科加速器科学中心);Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka University(大阪大学核物理研究中心);Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency(日本原子能研究开发机构先进科学研究部);AGH University of Krakow(克拉科夫AGH科技大学)
We present a new method for detection of multiply charmed baryons via their decays into strange baryons, using `strangeness tracking'. This method makes use of the state-of-the-art upgraded silicon detectors in ALICE during Runs 3, 4 and beyond will enable the novel possibility of tracking strange hadrons directly before they decay, leading to a very significant improvement in impact-parameter resolution. In this work, we will discuss how this new technique will be crucial to distinguish secondary strange baryons originating from charm decays from primary strange baryons. This is a particularl…
Multiplicity distributions of charged particles for pp collisions at LHC Run 1 energies, from $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9 to 8 TeV are measured over a wide pseudorapidity range ($-3.4<η<5.0$) for the first time. The results are obtained using the Forward Multiplicity Detector and the Silicon Pixel Detector within ALICE. The results are compared to Monte Carlo simulations, and to the IP-Glasma model.
ALICE is the experiment at the CERN LHC devoted to study heavy-ion collisions. An upgrade program of the ALICE detector is ongoing toward the LHC Run 3 starting in 2022 together with the upgrade of the data acquisition system and the detector control system (DCS). One of the main projects of the current ALICE upgrade program is the addition of the muon forward tracker (MFT), a new silicon pixel detector located at forward rapidity. In this paper, we describe the DCS of the MFT detector which is entirely controlled via a finite state machine in a hierarchical system.
ALICE has been specifically optimized to study heavy-ion collisions at the LHC, up to a charged particle density of 8000 per unit of rapidity in central heavy-ion collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.5 TeV. The High Momentum Particle Identification Detector (HMPID) has a proximity focusing geometry with a liquid $\rm C_{6}F_{14}$ Cherenkov radiator coupled to Multi-Wire Pad Chambers (MWPC) equipped with CsI photocathodes, over a total active area of 11 $\rm m^2$. It has been designed to identify charged pions and kaons in the range 1 $\leq p \leq$ 3 \GeV/$c$ and protons in the range 2 $\leq p \le…
During the second LHC long shutdown (LS2) the Inner Tracking System (ITS) of ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) will be replaced by seven layers of CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS). The latest innovations in silicon imaging technology allow for the construction of large, ultra-thin silicon wafers which can further improve the capabilities of the ALICE tracker. The research and development studies towards the construction of a novel vertex detector have started. The detector installation has been proposed for the third LHC long shutdown (LS3) during which the three innermost lay…
The ALICE Forward Multiplicity Detector (FMD) is a silicon strip detector with 51,200 strips arranged in 5 rings, covering the range $-3.4 < η< 5.1$. It is placed around the beam pipe at small angles to extend the charged particle acceptance of ALICE into the forward regions, not covered by the central barrel detectors.
The two innermost layers of the ALICE inner tracking system are instrumented with silicon pixel detectors. Single chip assembly prototypes of the ALICE pixels have been tested in high energy particle beams at the CERN SPS. Detection efficiency and spatial precision have been studied as a function of the threshold and the track incidence angle. The experimental method, data analysis and main results are presented.
The ALICE experiment is dedicated to the study of the quark gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN LHC. The Muon Forward Tracker (MFT) is under consideration by the ALICE experiment to be part of its program of detectors upgrade to be installed during the LHC Long Shutdown 2 (LS2) planned for 2018. Designed as a silicon pixel detector added in the Muon Spectrometer acceptance ($-4.0 < η< -2.5$) upstream of the hadron absorber, the MFT will allow a drastic improvement of the measurements that are presently done with the Muon Spectrometer and, in addition, will give access to new measu…
During the second long shutdown of the LHC in 2018, the ALICE Collaboration plans to install an upgrade of the ALICE Inner Tracking System (ITS) in the central barrel with seven layers of silicon detectors starting at 2.2 cm radial distance from the interaction region and a material budget as low as 0.3% radiation length per layer. A single-hit resolution of $\mathrm{4 μm}$ and a readout rate capability of up to 50 kHz in Pb--Pb collisions will allow new and unique measurements in the heavy-quark sector, i.e. charm and beauty. Using detailed Monte Carlo simulations of pp and Pb--Pb collisions …
The silicon pixel detector of the ALICE experiment at LHC comprises the two innermost layers of the inner tracking system of the apparatus. It contains 1200 readout chips, each of them corresponding to a 8192 pixel matrix. The single chip outputs a digital Fast-OR signal which is active whenever at least one of the pixels in the matrix records a hit. The 1200 Fast-OR output signals can be used to implement a unique triggering capability: few details on the pixel trigger system and some of the possible applications for p-p collisions are presented.
ALICE is the experiment dedicated to the study of the quark gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN LHC. Improvements of ALICE sub-detectors are envisaged for the upgrade plans of year 2017. The Muon Forward Tracker (MFT) is a proposal in view of this upgrade, motivated both by the possibility to overcome the intrinsic limitations of the Muon Spectrometer, and by the possibility to perform new measurements of general interest for the whole ALICE physics. The measurement of the offset of single muons and dimuons will permit to disentangle open charm ($cτ\sim 150 μ$m) and beauty ($cτ\si…
The strong electromagnetic fields surrounding the Pb-ions accelerated at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) allow two-photon and photonuclear interactions to be studied in a so far unexplored kinematic regime. Exclusive photoproduction of vector mesons can be studied in ultra-peripheral collisions, where the impact parameters are larger than the sum of the nuclear radii and hadronic interactions are strongly suppressed. During the heavy-ion runs at the LHC in 2010 and 2011, the ALICE collaboration used special triggers to select ultra-peripheral collisions. These triggers were based on the M…
The ALICE Collaboration will undertake a major upgrade of the detector apparatus during the second LHC Long Shutdown LS2 (2019-2020) in view of the Runs 3 and 4 (2021-2029). The objective of the upgrade is two-fold: i) an improvement of the tracking precision and efficiency, in particular in the low-momentum range; ii) an improvement of the readout capabilities of the experiment, in order to fully exploit the luminosity for heavy ions envisaged after LS2. The first goal will be achieved by replacing the Inner Tracking System with a new tracker, composed of seven layers of silicon pixel detecto…
Open charm mesons produced in high energy A-A interactions are expected to be powerful probes to investigate the medium produced in the collision. In this context it is important to measure the production of as many charmed hadrons as possible, such as D$^0$, D$^+$, D$^+_s$ and $Λ_c$, because the measurement of their relative yield can provide information on the hadronization mechanism and is necessary to reduce the systematic error on the absolute cross section. The ALICE experiment at the LHC is designed to perform such measurements at midrapidity down to $p_T$ below 1 GeV/c, mainly by means…
The ALICE collaboration measured charged particle production in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV Pb--Pb collisions at the LHC. We report on results on charged particle multiplicity and transverse momentum spectra. All the results are presented as a function of the centrality of the collision, estimated with a Glauber Monte Carlo fit to multiplicity distributions reconstructed in various detectors. The applicability of the Glauber model at LHC energies, the precision of the centrality determination and the related systematic uncertainties are discussed in detail. Particles are tracked in the pseudorapi…
The ALICE collaboration consolidated and completed the installation of current detectors during LS1 with the aim to accumulate 1 nb$^{-1}$ of Pb-Pb collisions during Run 2 corresponding to about 10 times the Run 1 integrated luminosity. In parallel, the ALICE experiment has a rich detector upgrade programme scheduled during the second LHC long shutdown (LS2, 2018-2019) in order to fully exploit the LHC Runs 3 and 4. The main objectives of this programme are: improving the tracking precision and enabling the read-out of all Pb-Pb interactions at a rate of up to 50 kHz, with the goal to record a…
We have developed a silicon pixel detector to enhance the physics capabilities of the PHENIX experiment. This detector, consisting of two layers of sensors, will be installed around the beam pipe at the collision point and covers a pseudo-rapidity of | η| < 1.2 and an azimuth angle of | ϕ| ~ 2π. The detector uses 200 um thick silicon sensors and readout chips developed for the ALICE experiment. In order to meet the PHENIX DAQ readout requirements, it is necessary to read out 4 readout chips in parallel. The physics goals of PHENIX require that radiation thickness of the detector be minimized. …
We are constructing a Silicon Vertex Tracker detector (VTX) for the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. Our main motivation is to enable measurements of heavy flavor production (charm and beauty) in p+p, p+d and A+A collisions. Such data will illuminate the properties of the matter created in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. The measurements also will reveal the distribution of gluons in protons from p+p collisions. The VTX detector consists of four layers of barrel detectors and covers |eta|< 1.2, and almost a 2pi in azimuth. The inner two silicon barrels consist of silicon pixel sensors; their techn…
We present the charged-particle multiplicity distributions over a wide pseudorapidity range ($-3.4<η<5.0$) for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9, 7, and 8 TeV at the LHC. Results are based on information from the Silicon Pixel Detector and the Forward Multiplicity Detector of ALICE, extending the pseudorapidity coverage of the earlier publications and the high-multiplicity reach. The measurements are compared to results from the CMS experiment and to PYTHIA, PHOJET and EPOS LHC event generators, as well as IP-Glasma calculations.
The KOALA experiment measures the differential cross section of (anti)proton-proton elastic scattering over a wide range of four-momentum transfer squared 0.0008 < |t| < 0.1 (GeV/c)$^2$ . The forward scattering parameters and the absolute luminosity can be deduced by analyzing the characteristic shape of the differential cross-section spectrum. The experiment is based on fixed target kinematics and uses an internal hydrogen cluster jet target. The wide range of |t| is achieved by measuring the total kinetic energy of the recoil protons near 90° with a recoil detector, which consists of silicon…