High Energy Physics Group Research Articles

High-quality aerogel Cherenkov radiators recently developed in Japan

Around 1980, Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, also known as the KEK laboratory, began developing silica aerogels as a Cherenkov radiator. In 1996, the high energy physics group at Chiba University, Japan, began aerogel research and development in collaborating with KEK. The design of state-of-the-art Cherenkov detectors is enabled by improving aerogel transparency. Simultaneously, ultrahigh- and ultralow-refractive-index aerogels were developed to bridge the gap in the available indices for identifying low- and high-momentum particles, respectively. These are and will be employed in ongoing and future particle physics experiments all over the world. We report the latest results from the aerogel development and applications to threshold-type and ring-imaging Cherenkov detectors.

Promoting a Research-Based Education through Undergraduate Research Experience for Engineering Students

Various studies have shown the crucial and strong impact that undergraduate research has on the learning outcome of students and its role in clarifying their career path. Therefore, many colleges and universities are promoting undergraduate research experience amongst their students. Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ), a branch campus of Texas A&M University in College Station in the state of Texas and one of the six American University campuses in Education City, Qatar is actively involving its engineering students in research projects spanning different disciplines across its academic programs. This paper describes how the High Energy and Medical Physics Group at TAMUQ supports and engages the undergraduate students in research activities, summarizes the outcomes of their work and the impact on their career.

Long Term Data Preservation for CDF at INFN-CNAF

Long-term preservation of experimental data (intended as both raw and derived formats) is one of the emerging requirements coming from scientific collaborations. Within the High Energy Physics community the Data Preservation in High Energy Physics (DPHEP) group coordinates this effort. CNAF is not only one of the Tier-1s for the LHC experiments, it is also a computing center providing computing and storage resources to many other HEP and non-HEP scientific collaborations, including the CDF experiment. After the end of data taking in 2011, CDF is now facing the challenge to both preserve the large amount of data produced during several years of data taking and to retain the ability to access and reuse it in the future. CNAF is heavily involved in the CDF Data Preservation activities, in collaboration with the Fermilab National Laboratory (FNAL) computing sector. At the moment about 4 PB of data (raw data and analysis-level ntuples) are starting to be copied from FNAL to the CNAF tape library and the framework to subsequently access the data is being set up. In parallel to the data access system, a data analysis framework is being developed which allows to run the complete CDF analysis chain in the long term future, from raw data reprocessing to analysis-level ntuple production. In this contribution we illustrate the technical solutions we put in place to address the issues encountered as we proceeded in this activity.

Application of Large Scale GEM for Digital Hadron Calorimetry

Abstract The detectors proposed for future e+e- colliders (ILC and CLIC) demand a high level of precision in the measurement of jet energies. Various technologies have been proposed for the active layers of the digital hadron calorimetry to be used in conjunction with the Particle Flow Algorithm (PFA) approach. The High Energy Physics group of the University of Texas at Arlington has been developing Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors for use as the calorimeter active gap detector. To understand this application of GEMs, two kinds of prototype GEM detectors have been tested. One has 30x30 cm 2 active area double GEM structure with a 3 mm drift gap, a 1 mm transfer gap and a 1 mm induction gap. The other one has two 2x2 cm 2 GEM foils in the amplifier stage with a 5 mm drift gap, a 2 mm transfer gap and a 1 mm induction gap. We will summarize the results of tests of these prototypes, using cosmic rays and sources, in terms of their applicability to a digital hadron calorimeter system. We will discuss plans for the construction of 1m 2 layers of GEM digital hadron calorimetry to be used as part of a 1m 3 stack to be used in a major test beam study of hadronic showers.

Development of Large Area GEM Chambers

The High Energy Physics group of the University of Texas at Arlington Physics Department has been developing Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors for use as the sensitive gap detector in digital hadron calorimeters (DHCAL) for the future International Linear Collider. In this study, two kinds of prototype GEM detectors have been tested. One has 30x30 cm 2 active area double GEM structure with a 3 mm drift gap, a 1 mm transfer gap and a 1 mm induction gap. The other one has two 2x2 cm 2 GEM foils in the amplifier stage with a 5 mm drift gap, a 2 mm transfer gap and a 1 mm induction gap. We present characteristics of these detectors obtained using high-energy charged particles, cosmic ray muons and 106 Ru and 55 Fe radioactive sources. From the 55 Fe tests, we observed two well-separated X-ray emission peaks and measured the chamber gain to be over 6500 with a high voltage of 395 V across each GEM electrode. Both the spectra from cosmic rays and the 106 Ru fit well to Landau distributions as expected from minimum ionizing particles. We also present the chamber performance after high dosage exposure to radiation as well as the pressure dependence of the gain and correction factors. Finally, we discuss the quality test results of the first set of large scale GEM foils and discuss progress and future plans for constructing large scale (100cmx100 cm) GEM detectors.

Monitoring and Control of Large Systems with MonALISA

The HEP (high energy physics) group at the California Institute of Technology started developing the MonALISA (Monitoring Agents using a Large Integrated Services Architecture) framework in 2002, aiming to provide a distributed service system capable of controlling and optimizing large-scale, data-intensive applications. Its initial target field of applications is the grid systems and the networks supporting data processing and analysis for HEP collaborations. Our strategy in trying to satisfy the demands of data-intensive applications was to move to more synergetic relationships between the applications, computing, and storage facilities and the network infrastructure.

Simon Peter Rosen

Simon Peter Rosen

First Observation of Signals Due to KAERI's 10 MeV Electron Beam by Using GEM Detectors

Department of Physics, University of Texas, Arlington, TX 76019, U.S.A.(Received 12 September 2006)Performance tests of a single channel double Gas Electron multiplier (GEM) detector constructedby the Radiation Detector Development Group of Changwon National University (CNU) and amulti-channel double GEM chamber constructed by the High Energy Physics Group of the Univer-sity of Texas at Arlington was carried out at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI’s)RF accelerator by using 10-MeV electron beams during May 20 - 26, 2006. In this experiment, weobserved signals by both 10-MeV beam electrons and X-ray photons in the CNU single-channeldouble GEM chamber and in the UTA chamber by using an oscilloscope and photographed wave-forms. By analyzing the chamber output signals on the oscilloscope, computing the number ofX-rays photons produced by bremsstrahlung of the beam electrons in a 2-mm lead plate, calculat-ing the angular distribution of beam electrons caused by multiple scatterings in the lead plate, andestimating the interaction probabilities of X-ray photons in the lead plate, the Ar/CO

Mass characterization of MaPMT tubes for the LHCb scintillator pad detector

The final choice as the photomultiplier solution for both the LHCb Pre-Shower (PS) and the Scintillator Pad Detector (SPD) are the R7600-00-M64MOD Hamamatsu 64 channel photomultiplier tubes (MaPMT). A total of 220 units have been purchased to the manufacturer and around 100 units, the part corresponding to the SPD, have been characterized at the photon detection test bench facility in the University of Barcelona (UB) high energy physics group laboratory. There, the crucial features of the tubes such as linearity, gain, channel cross-talk and anode uniformity of response have been measured to ensure the compliance with the specifications agreed with the manufacturer.

Henderson Mine a Promising Candidate for Underground Lab

Several sites are being considered for a National Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (NUSEL), according to a news story in the February 2004 issue of Physics Today (page 32). Those locations, including the Homestake and Soudan mines and the Icicle Creek site, each have specific attributes that make them possible choices. The article quotes Kenneth Lande of the University of Pennsylvania as saying that “Homestake has a clear advantage [over other sites] financially, and in terms of timetable.” Yet water pouring into Homestake will require extensive and expensive rehabilitation measures just to regain the status quo in a mine that is more than 100 years old. Missing from the site list, however, is one in Colorado that may prove to have the greatest potential of all the proposed locations.Late in 2002, personnel from the Henderson molybdenum mine, located in central Colorado and owned by Phelps Dodge Corp, came to the Clear Creek County Planning Commission to ask if there was any interest in preserving certain of the mine’s facilities for use after the forecasted date for mine closure.Much of the infrastructure, including office buildings, maintenance and machine shops, utilities, water supplies, and sewage treatment facilities were considered highly valuable for redevelopment.The Henderson mine is located on a 30 000-acre private land parcel in the Arapaho National Forest; the land spans the Continental Divide 40 miles west of Denver, is accessible by Interstate 70 and US Highway 40, and is slightly over one hour from Denver International Airport. The mine consists of more than 150 miles of roughly 15-foot-diameter drifts. The main shaft is 28 feet in diameter with a vertical elevator capable of carrying up to a 50-ton load to the lowest level of the mine. Mining operations at the Henderson are projected to cease around the year 2020. However, large areas are currently available underground some distance from the mining area, and many uses could coexist with current mine production. Crushed rock and ore are brought to the surface from the mining area by a nearly horizontal conveyor, through a 10-mile-long straight tunnel under the Continental Divide. Two 30-mW substations are fed from two independent 115-kv transmission lines and provide 100% redundant electrical power to the complex. Fiber-optic communications link the entire facility, above and below ground.In October 2003, the Arapaho Project Inc, a private nonprofit corporation, fostered the formation of the Colorado Alliance for Underground Science and Engineering to further evaluate the Henderson mine’s potential for high-energy physics. CAUSE members include the Arapaho Project, the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado State University, and the Henderson mine. CAUSE is currently working in the physics community to increase awareness of Henderson and its potential for economical, high-energy physics research.We believe that the scientific community, and particularly the particle and high-energy physics group participants, would benefit immensely from a close and unbiased evaluation of the Henderson site’s potential as a national underground laboratory.In December of 2003, CAUSE members visited with NSF officials regarding NUSEL and other high-energy physics projects. In April 2004, CAUSE founded the Henderson Underground Science and Engineering Project. HUSEP is in contact with NSF regarding the release of new NUSEL solicitations and will submit a proposal for.© 2004 American Institute of Physics.