Particle identification with the TOP and ARICH detectors at Belle II

Abstract

The SuperKEKB e+e− collider will provide 40 times higher instantaneous luminosity than the KEKB collider. The Belle II detector, located at the collision point, is the upgrade of the Belle detector. The particle identification will be improved by replacing the aerogel threshold counter with two new high performance Cherenkov detectors: the time-of-propagation (TOP) in the barrel region and the focusing aerogel (ARICH) in the forward region. The time-of-propagation sub-detector consists of quartz radiator bars and micro-channel plate photomultiplier tubes. The Cherenkov photons are produced and propagated through the quartz radiator, and after multiple internal reflections they are detected by the photomultiplier tubes. Photons with different Cherenkov angles reach different photomultiplier channels and arrive at different times. The time and the position convolution is used for the reconstruction of the Cherenkov angle. The focusing aerogel consists of a double layer aerogel radiator, an expansion volume and a photon detector. The aerogel thickness and the refractive indices of the two layers are optimized to focus the two light cones at the detection surface. The key features of these two detectors, the performance studies, and the construction progress are presented.