The time of flight wall for the HADES spectrometer

Abstract

In the framework of the HADES (High Acceptance DiElectron Spectrometer) collaboration we are developing the Time Of Flight (TOF) wall subdetector. In order to efficiently select events with e/sup +/e/sup -/ pairs produced in the nuclear matter, the TOF wall must be able to resolve electrons from pions up to 0.5 GeV/c and from protons up to 2 GeV/c. Because the short flight path of about 2 m requires a 100-150 ps time resolution, we are building a granular system made of scintillator rods readout on both ends by means of photomultipliers, capable of such performance.