Initial experience with the CDF SVT trigger

Abstract

The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) is a device that works inside the CDF Level 2 trigger to find and fit tracks in real time using the central silicon vertex detector information. SVT starts from tracks found by the Level 1 central chamber fast trigger and adds the silicon information to compute transverse track parameters with offline quality in about 15 μs . The CDF SVT is fully installed and functional and has been exercised with real data during the spring and summer 2001. It is a complex digital device of more than 100 VME boards that performs a dramatic data reduction (only about one event in a thousand is accepted by the trigger). Diagnosing rare failures poses a special challenge and SVT internal data flow is monitored by dedicated hardware and software. This paper briefly covers the SVT architecture and design and reports on the SVT building/commissioning experience (hardware and software) and on the first results from the initial running.