The STAR Vertex Position Detector

Abstract

The 2×3 channel pseudo Vertex Position Detector (pVPD) in the STAR experiment at RHIC has been upgraded to a 2×19 channel detector in the same acceptance, called the Vertex Position Detector (VPD). This detector is fully integrated into the STAR trigger system and provides the primary input to the minimum-bias trigger in Au+Au collisions. The information from the detector is used both in the STAR Level-0 trigger and offline to measure the location of the primary collision vertex along the beam pipe and the event “start time” needed by other fast-timing detectors in STAR. The offline timing resolution of single detector channels in full-energy Au+Au collisions is ~100ps, resulting in a start time resolution of a few tens of picoseconds and a resolution on the primary vertex location of ~1cm.