Radioactivation of silicon tracker modules in high-luminosity hadron collider radiation environments

Abstract

One of the consequences of operating detector systems in harsh radiation environments will be radioactivation of the components. This will certainly be true in experiments such as ATLAS and CMS, which are currently being built to exploit the physics potential at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. If the levels of radioactivity and corresponding dose rates are significant, then there will be implications for any access or maintenance operations. This paper presents predictions for the radioactivation of ATLAS's Semi-Conductor Tracker (SCT) barrel system, based on both calculations and measurements. It is shown that both neutron capture and high-energy hadron reactions must be taken into account. The predictions also show that the SCT barrel-module should not pose any serious radiological problems after operation in high radiation environments.