Tübingen 2003 – scientific programme

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HK: Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 4: Instrumentation und Anwendungen I

HK 4.7: Talk

Monday, March 17, 2003, 17:30–17:45, C

Momentum dependence of the ALICE TRD performance:
results from prototype tests — •Oliver Busch — GSI Darmstadt

Hard processes, and in particular studies of charm and beauty production, have become the center stage for the ALICE physics program. The Transition Radiation Detector (TRD), in conjunction with other ALICE detectors, will allow to explore various aspects of dielectron physics, among them the production of quarkonia like J/ψ, ψ′ and the members of the Υ family. The study of such rare probes requires good electron identification and dedicated triggers to make the relevant signatures accessible to ALICE with sufficient statistics [1].
The transition radiation (TR), x-ray photons with energy up to 30 keV, is produced in a radiator of special design [2]. The TR is detected, along with the ionization energy loss, in drift chambers with pad readout. Five layers of radiator and drift chamber were operated at the secondary pion beam facility at CERN PS. We present the position resolution and electron/pion separation performance achieved for a momentum range from 1 to 6 GeV/c. The latter results are discussed with regard to our first attempt to directly measure the TR spectrum with the prototype drift chambers, operated in magnetic field.

[1] B. Vulpescu, this meeting

[2] D. Bucher, this meeting