The LHCb tracking system

Abstract

The LHCb detector is being constructed to measure CP-violation parameters and rare B decays. The LHCb tracking system consists of silicon micro-strip detectors and straw chambers. The system is composed of four major sub-detectors: the Vertex Locator (Velo), Trigger Tracker (TT), Inner Tracker (IT) and Outer Tracker (OT). The Velo uses silicon micro-strip detectors which are placed at 8 mm from the beam, and that can be retracted during injection. The TT is a four-layer silicon-strip detector that covers the full acceptance of the experiment at the entrance of the spectrometer dipole magnet. The fringe field of the magnet allows the transverse momentum of tracks to be measured by their deflection between the Velo and TT detectors for use in the trigger. The IT and OT detectors measure the tracks behind the magnet. The IT is a silicon-strip detector which covers the region close to the beam pipe, while the OT is a straw tube detector which covers the rest of the acceptance. All of the detectors are currently under construction and will be ready for installation before the end of 2006. The expected performance for the tracking system is as follows: the tracking efficiency is larger than 95% and the ghost rate is smaller than 7%, for tracks with a momentum larger than 12 GeV. The momentum resolution ranges from 0.35% to 0.5% and the IP resolution reaches 14 μm for tracks with a large transverse momentum.