Relativistic charged particle identification by ionisation loss counters

Abstract

The results of some theoretical calculations on the performance of relativistic-rise ionisation loss gas-filled proportional counters are given. First, various gases are compared for use in storage ring experiments both with respect to velocity resolution and sensitivity to calibration uncertainties. Second, we investigate whether the shape of the ionisation loss distribution will provide enough discrimination in practice between K and π mesons at the momentum at which their mean ionisations are the same. Our conclusion is that it will not.