S. Lee

The multigap resistive plate chamber as a time-of-flight detector

Abstract The goal of this R&D has been to reach the time resolution needed for Time-of-Flight detectors using the Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC). We present here a MRPC with a time resolution of 70 ps. This prototype has been studied within the R&D program for the very large area TOF array of the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC.

The Physics Programme Of The MoEDAL Experiment At The LHC

The MoEDAL experiment at Point 8 of the LHC ring is the seventh and newest LHC experiment. It is dedicated to the search for highly-ionizing particle avatars of physics beyond the Standard Model, extending significantly the discovery horizon of the LHC. A MoEDAL discovery would have revolutionary implications for our fundamental understanding of the Microcosm. MoEDAL is an unconventional and largely passive LHC detector comprised of the largest array of Nuclear Track Detector stacks ever deployed at an accelerator, surrounding the intersection region at Point 8 on the LHC ring. Another novel feature is the use of paramagnetic trapping volumes to capture both electrically and magnetically charged highly-ionizing particles predicted in new physics scenarios. It includes an array of TimePix pixel devices for monitoring highly-ionizing particle backgrounds. The main passive elements of the MoEDAL detector do not require a trigger system, electronic readout, or online computerized data acquisition. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the MoEDAL physics reach, which is largely complementary to the programs of the large multipurpose LHC detectors ATLAS and CMS.

Search for magnetic monopoles with the MoEDAL prototype trapping detector in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC

A bstractThe MoEDAL experiment is designed to search for magnetic monopoles and other highly-ionising particles produced in high-energy collisions at the LHC. The largely passive MoEDAL detector, deployed at Interaction Point 8 on the LHC ring, relies on two dedicated direct detection techniques. The first technique is based on stacks of nucleartrack detectors with surface area ~18m2, sensitive to particle ionisation exceeding a high threshold. These detectors are analysed offline by optical scanning microscopes. The second technique is based on the trapping of charged particles in an array of roughly 800 kg of aluminium samples. These samples are monitored offline for the presence of trapped magnetic charge at a remote superconducting magnetometer facility. We present here the results of a search for magnetic monopoles using a 160 kg prototype MoEDAL trapping detector exposed to 8TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC, for an integrated luminosity of 0.75 fb–1. No magnetic charge exceeding 0:5gD (where gD is the Dirac magnetic charge) is measured in any of the exposed samples, allowing limits to be placed on monopole production in the mass range 100 GeV≤ m ≤ 3500 GeV. Model-independent cross-section limits are presented in fiducial regions of monopole energy and direction for 1gDu2009≤u2009|g|u2009≤u20096gD, and model-dependent cross-section limits are obtained for Drell-Yan pair production of spin-1/2 and spin-0 monopoles for 1gDu2009≤u2009|g|u2009≤u20094gD. Under the assumption of Drell-Yan cross sections, mass limits are derived for |g|u2009=u20092gD and |g|u2009=u20093gD for the first time at the LHC, surpassing the results from previous collider experiments.

A very large multigap resistive plate chamber

Abstract We have built and tested a very large Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC). We discuss the suitability of the multigap RPC for the construction of large area modules. We give details of the construction technique and results from a scan across the surface of the chamber. We also report on the implementation of ‘half-strip resolution’, where we improve the spatial resolution by a factor 2 without increasing the number of read-out channels.

Results of the ALICE time-of-flight detector from the 2009 cosmic-ray data taking

The Time-Of-Flight detector (TOF) of the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC is based on Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPCs). The TOF detector consists of 152928 readout channels covering a total area of 141 m2. In this paper the results of the calibration with cosmic-ray data collected during 2009 are presented.

Search for magnetic monopoles with the MoEDAL forward trapping detector in 2.11 fb−1 of 13 TeV proton–proton collisions at the LHC

Abstract We update our previous search for trapped magnetic monopoles in LHC Run 2 using nearly six times more integrated luminosity and including additional models for the interpretation of the data. The MoEDAL forward trapping detector, comprising 222 kg of aluminium samples, was exposed to 2.11 fb−1 of 13 TeV proton–proton collisions near the LHCb interaction point and analysed by searching for induced persistent currents after passage through a superconducting magnetometer. Magnetic charges equal to the Dirac charge or above are excluded in all samples. The results are interpreted in Drell–Yan production models for monopoles with spins 0, 1/2 and 1: in addition to standard point-like couplings, we also consider couplings with momentum-dependent form factors. The search provides the best current laboratory constraints for monopoles with magnetic charges ranging from two to five times the Dirac charge.

Multiplicity studies and effective energy in ALICE at the LHC

In this work we explore the possibility to perform “effective energy” studies in very high energy collisions at the CERN large hadron collider (LHC). In particular, we focus on the possibility to measure in pp collisions the average charged multiplicity as a function of the effective energy with the ALICE experiment, using its capability to measure the energy of the leading baryons with the zero degree calorimeters. Analyses of this kind have been done at lower centre-of-mass energies and have shown that, once the appropriate kinematic variables are chosen, particle production is characterized by universal properties: no matter the nature of the interacting particles, the final states have identical features. Assuming that this universality picture can be extended to ion–ion collisions, as suggested by recent results from RHIC experiments, a novel approach based on the scaling hypothesis for limiting fragmentation has been used to derive the expected charged event multiplicity in AA interactions at LHC. This leads to scenarios where the multiplicity is significantly lower compared to most of the predictions from the models currently used to describe high energy AA collisions. A mean charged multiplicity of about 1000–2000 per rapidity unit (at η∼0) is expected for the most central Pb–Pb collisions at

Latest results on the performance of the multigap resistive plate chamber used for the ALICE TOF

sqrt{s_{{text{NN}}}} = 5.5,text{TeV}

Design aspects and prototype test of a very precise TDC system implemented for the Multigap RPC of the ALICE-TOF

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