Karlsruhe 2011 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 58: Suche nach neuer Physik III

T 58.1: Talk

Friday, April 1, 2011, 14:00–14:15, 30.34: 022

Search for charged stable massive particles using the Transition Radiation Tracker of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC — •Simone Zimmermann, Martin Schultens, and Klaus Desch — Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bonn

In the Standard Model of Particle Physics heavy particles will decay into lighter particles. A massive heavy particle that is stable within the detector is hence an indication for new physics.

The energy loss of charged particles through ionization of a medium (dE/dx) is described by the Bethe-Bloch formula. Its dependence on βγ=p/m can be used to identify particles. At a given momentum heavy particles, corresponding to small values of βγ, will on average leave significantly more ionization in a gas detector than light particles.

This property can be exploited in a search for new stable massive particles in the ATLAS detector. The outermost component of the Inner Detector is the Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT) which consists of gas-filled straw tubes. The signals read out by the TRT can be used to calculate the dE/dx of charged tracks, which in turn will then be used to identify stable massive particles.

This presentation will show the status of the determination of the dE/dx of a given track from the TRT readout and its use in the search for new particles.