Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber Technology Research Articles

A conceptual design of TOF based on MRPC technology for the future electron–positron Higgs factory

Future electron–positron Higgs factories could provide excellent opportunities to examine the Standard Model and search for new physics with much higher precision than the LHC. A precise particle identification is crucial for the physics program at these future colliders and can be achieved via precise time-of-flight (TOF) measurements of the final state particles. In this paper, we propose a conceptual design of TOF system based on the multigap resistive plate chamber (MRPC) technology for future electron–positron Higgs factories. This TOF system will be characterized by a time resolution of < 35 ps, a total active area of 77 m2, and a construction budget of the order of 5 million USD.

Reduction of Greenhouse Gases impact in the EEE Project

The whole Extreme Energy Events (EEE) array is composed of 61 telescopes installed in Italian High Schools, built and operated by students and teachers, constantly supervised by researchers. The muon telescope of the EEE Project is made by 3 Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC). The unconventional working sites are a unique test field for checking the robustness and the low-ageing features of the MRPC technology for particle tracking and timing purposes. The MRPCs are fluxed with a standard mixture (98% C2H2F4 - 2% SF6) of greenhouse gases (GHG) phasing out of production. The EEE Collaboration is currently studying alternative mixtures environmentally and economically sustainable. The EEE Collaboration actions to reduce the Global Warming Potential (GWP) in the MRPC array of the EEE experiment are progressing.

The extreme energy events project: Bring science inside schools.

The Extreme Energy Events Project is an experiment devoted to the study of cosmic ray physics. It consists in a network of about 60 detectors based on the Multigap-Resistive Plate Chamber technology, distributed in the Italian territory and at CERN. In particular, the detectors are installed in high-school buildings, and the scientific activity is carried on in strong cooperation with students and professors. In this perspective, the project relies on citizen science, since non-professional people are fully involved in the constant monitoring of the operations. Furthermore, students participate in many stages of the scientific process, from the building of the detectors at CERN to the installation and commissioning of the telescopes inside their schools, to data collection and analysis, and to publication and dissemination of results.

The FAIR Phase 0 program of the CBM TOF

In order to provide particle identification (PID) of charged hadrons at the future high-rate Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment, the TOF group has developed a large-area Time-of-Flight (ToF) wall equipped with Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC) capable to operate at incident particle fluxes of up to 30 kHz/cm2. Prior to its destined operation at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR)—starting in 2025—this high-rate timing MRPC technology will be used for physics research at two scientific pillars of the FAIR Phase-0 program: the end-cap TOF upgrade of the STAR experiment at RHIC and the mini-TOF (mTOF) wall of the mini-CBM (mCBM) experiment at Schwerionensynchrotron18 (SIS18). At STAR, the fixed-target program of the Beam Energy Scan II (BES-II) will rely on 108 CBM MRPC detectors for forward PID at trigger rates of up to 2 kHz. At mCBM, high-performance benchmark runs of Lambda-baryon production at top SIS18 energies and CBM design interaction rates of 10 MHz will become feasible with a PID backbone consisting of 25 CBM MRPC detectors. Apart from the physics perspective, these pre-FAIR involvements will help gathering experience in operating the final CBM TOF wall comprising about 1500 MRPC detectors and 110,000 readout channels. The status of the FAIR phase 0 program will be discussed.

Design and construction of the new BESIII endcap Time-of-Flight system with MRPC Technology

In order to improve the particle identification capability, the Beijing Spectrometer (BESIII) collaboration has upgraded the End-cap Time-Of-Flight detector (ETOF) based on Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) technology. In this paper, the design and engineering development of each part of the project are reported. There are 72 MRPC modules, forming 2 rings. Adjacent modules are staggered placed to avoid dead regions. Each MRPC module contains 12-layer thin gaps to get fast signals with high efficiency and 12 strips to readout the induced signals from two ends, effectively reducing the timing uncertainties from the scattering and positioning. Also, the analog–digital conversion is done near the MRPC and only the digital signals are transferred through thin coax cables, ensuring good signal-to-noise ratio. The complex electromagnetic noises in the BESIII colliding area are well shielded to protect the tiny signals from the MRPC. After careful correction and calibration, the total time resolution of upgraded ETOF system is 65ps.

The offline data quality monitoring of the BESIII end cap TOF system

The end-cap time-of-flight (TOF) at Beijing Spectrometer was upgraded with multi-gap resistive plate chamber technology in order to improve the particle identification capability in 2015. The offline data quality monitoring (ODQM) is a critical aspect of the data processing chain aiming at providing data with good quality for physics analyses. An ODQM tool for upgraded end-cap TOF has been developed to provide feedback about the functioning and performance of detector hardware and data processing chain. Detector information and reconstructed time-of-flight characteristics of charged tracks are filled into plots using full Bhabha events’ reconstruction results, and then, these plots are used to assess the operational conditions of the detector and the quality of the data by the experts. This paper describes the design and the content of performance of the ODQM of end-cap TOF and the data quality performance achieved during the last 2-year physical data taking.

New Eco-gas mixtures for the Extreme Energy Events MRPCs: results and plans

The Extreme Energy Events observatory is an extended muon telescope array, covering more than 10 degrees both in latitude and longitude. Its 59 muon telescopes are equipped with tracking detectors based on Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber technology with time resolution of the order of a few hundred picoseconds. The recent restrictions on greenhouse gases demand studies for new gas mixtures in compliance with the relative requirements. Tetrafluoropropene is one of the candidates for tetrafluoroethane substitution, since it is characterized by a Global Warming Potential around 300 times lower than the gas mixtures used up to now. Several mixtures have been tested, measuring efficiency curves, charge distributions, streamer fractions and time resolutions. Results are presented for the whole set of mixtures and operating conditions, focusing on identifying a mixture with good performance at the low rates typical of an EEE telescope.

Status of technology of MRPC time of flight system

TOF (Time Of Flight) system based on MRPC (Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber) technology is widely used in modern physics experiments, and it also plays an important role in particle identification. With the increase of accelerator energy and luminosity, the TOF system is required to identify definite particles precisely under high rate environment. The MRPC technology TOF system can be defined as three generations. The first generation TOF is based on float glass MRPC and its time resolution is around 80 ps, but the rate is relatively low (typically lower than a few hundred Hz/cm2). The typical systems are TOF of RHIC-STAR, LHC-ALICE and BES III endcap. For the second generation TOF, its time resolution is in the same order with the first generation, but the rate capability is much higher. Its rate capability can reach 30 kHz/cm2. The typical experiment with this high rate TOF is FAIR-CBM. The biggest challenge is on the third generation TOF. For example, the momentum upper limit of K/PI separation is around 7 GeV/c for JLab-SoLID TOF system under high particle rate as high as 20 kHz/cm2, the time requirement is around 20 ps. The readout electronics of the first two generations is based on time over threshold method and pulse shape sampling technology will be used in the third generation TOF. In the same time, the machine learning technology is also designed to analyze the time performance. In this paper, we will describe the evolution of MRPC TOF technology and key technology of each generation TOF.

Performance of the Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers of the Extreme Energy Events Project

The muon telescopes of the Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project [1] are made of three Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC). The EEE array is composed, so far, of 59 telescopes and is organized in clusters and single telescope stations distributed all over the Italian territory. They are installed in High Schools with the aim to join research and teaching activities, by involving researchers, teachers and students in the construction, maintenance, data taking and data analysis. The unconventional working sites, mainly school buildings with non-controlled environmental parameters and heterogeneous maintenance conditions, are a unique test field for checking the robustness, the low-ageing features and the long-lasting performance of the MRPC technology for particle tracking and timing purposes. The measurements performed with the EEE array require excellent performance in terms of time and spatial resolution, efficiency, tracking capability and stability. The data from two recent coordinated data taking periods, named Run 2 and Run 3, have been used to measure these quantities and the results are described, together with a comparison with expectations and with the results from a beam test performed in 2006 at CERN.

Time of flight technology based on multi-gap resistive plate chamber

Particle identification is very important in nuclear and particle physics experiments. Time of flight system (TOF) plays an important role in particle identification such as the separation of pion, kaon and proton. Multi-gap resistive plate chamber (MRPC) is a new kind of avalanche gas detector and it has excellent time resolution power. The intrinsic time resolution of narrow gap MRPC is less than 10 ps. So the MRPC technology TOF system is widely used in modern physics experiments for particle identification. With the increase of accelerator energy and luminosity, the TOF system is required to indentify definite particles precisely under high rate environment. The MRPC technology TOF system can be defined as three generations according to the timing and rate requirement. The first-generation TOF is based on the float glass MRPC and its time resolution is around 80 ps, but the rate is relatively low (typically lower than 100 Hz/cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;). The typical systems are TOF of RHIC-STAR, LHC-ALICE and BES III endcap. For the second-generation TOF, its time resolution has the same order as that for the first generation, but the rate capability is much higher. Its rate capability can reach 30 kHz/cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;. The typical experiment with this high rate TOF is FAIR-CBM. The biggest challenge is in the third-generation TOF. For example, the momentum upper limit of &lt;inline-formula&gt;&lt;tex-math id="M1"&gt;\begin{document}$ {\rm{K}}/{\text{π}}$\end{document}&lt;/tex-math&gt;&lt;alternatives&gt;&lt;graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="10-20182192_M1.jpg"/&gt;&lt;graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="10-20182192_M1.png"/&gt;&lt;/alternatives&gt;&lt;/inline-formula&gt; separation is around 7 GeV/c for JLab-SoLID TOF system under high particle rate as high as 20 kHz/cm&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, and the time requirement is around 20 ps. The readout electronics of first two generations is based on time over threshold method, and pulse shape sampling technology will be used in the third-generation TOF. In the same time, the machine learning technology LSTM network is also used to analyze the time performance. As a very successful sample, MRPC barrel TOF has been used in RHIC-STAR for more than ten years and many important physics results have been obtained. A prominent result is the observation of antimatter helium-4 nucleus. This discovery proves the existence of antimatter in the early universe. In this paper, we will describe the evolution of MRPC TOF technology and key technology of each generation of TOFs including MRPC detector and related electronics. The industrial and medical usage of MRPC are also introduced in the work finally.

Study of MRPC performance at different temperatures

Since 2013, Muon Tomography technology has been developed at Tsinghua University. We have built up a prototype system named THUMTY (Tsinghua University cosmic ray Muon tomography facility) to do elementary research. Our research is focused on developing a muon NDT (Non Destructive Testing) system that will be used in homeland security operations such as custom inspections, airport security and so on. This muon NDT system is based on the MRPC (Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber) technology, thus the impact of the ambient temperature must be considered. In this paper, the performance of the MRPC with Freon/SF6/isobutene mixture and pure Freon gas at different temperatures (-15̂C, -10̂C, -5̂C, 5̂C, 15̂C and 25̂C) were studied. This study is important to develop a widely used stable cosmic ray detection system.

Performance of the multigap resistive plate chambers of the extreme energy events project

Abstract The Extreme Energy Events (EEE) Project is devoted to the detection and study of high-energy cosmic rays. It is a network of 53 muon tracking telescopes made of three Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC), synchronized by GPS and installed inside high schools distributed on the Italian territory. The EEE Project foresees also the direct involvement of students and teachers in the experiment, from the construction of the detectors to the maintenance, data taking and data analysis. The schools are unconventional experimental sites and a unique test field to check the performance of the MRPC technology. Data from recent coordinated data taking periods have been used to measure the performances and the results of this study are here reported.

The study of time calibration for upgraded end cap TOF of BESIII

The end cap time of flight at Beijing Spectrometer is upgraded with multi-gap resistive plate chamber technology in order to improve the charged particle identification capability. The time-over-threshold is used for the time slewing correction instead of the signal amplitude. The correlation of the multi-peak time-over-threshold and the hit position along the strip of the charged particle is investigated. Implementation of the off-line data calibration method is discussed in detail. The overall time resolution for pions with momentum around 0.8 GeV/c is about 65 ps.

Study of MRPC technology for BESIII endcap-TOF upgrade

In order to improve the charged particle identification capability, end-cap time-of-flight (ETOF) detector of the Beijing Spectrometer (BESIII) has been upgraded with multi-gap resistive plate chamber (MRPC) technology, aiming at an overall time resolution of 80 ps for minimum-ionization particles to extend the K/ $$\pi $$ separation (2 $$\sigma $$ ) momentum range to 1.4 GeV/c. The previous version of ETOF in BESIII consisted of plastic scintillators. The multi-hit events distort both shape and amplitude of the output signals. MRPC technique was chosen for the BESIII ETOF upgrade as it provides high time resolution and high detection efficiency, is of relatively low cost and is insensitive to neutral particles. Most importantly, the fine segmentation of the MRPC readout stripes can suppress multi-hit events effectively. The final design of MRPC module for ETOF is characterized by double-stack (2 $$\times $$ 6) structure, dual-end readout mode and precision electronics. To batch-produce and test these MRPC modules, a series of tools and production procedures as well as related performance simulation and test methods were developed. Results showed that each MRPC module’s intrinsic time resolution (including the electronics contribution) is around 50 ps and the efficiency is better than 97%. The overall performance of the upgraded ETOF is better than the designed index. The new ETOF has been successfully installed at BESIII and run in 2016.

The upgrade system of BESIII ETOF with MRPC technology

An upgrade, based on Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) technology, of the endcap Time-Of-Flight (ETOF) detector of the Beijing Spectrometer III (BESIII) has been proposed for the replacement of the current scintillator + PMT based ETOF, with the aim of improving the time resolution down to 80 ps sigma. This improvement will enhance the particle identification capability to meet the higher precision requirements of physics. The ETOF system including MRPC modules, Front End Electronics (FEE), CLOCK module, fast control boards and Time to Digital modules (TDIG), has been designed, constructed and parts of the ETOF system have seperately tested. Aiming at examining the quality of entire ETOF system and training the operation of all participated instruments, a cosmic ray test system was built and tested in the laboratory for about three months to guarantee the performance. In this paper the results of the test are presented indicating that the entire ETOF system works well and satisfies the requirements of the upgrade.

A cosmic ray test platform based on high time resolution MRPC technology**Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11275196), and Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA03010100)

In order to test the performance of detector prototypes in a laboratory environment, we design and build a large area (90 cm×52 cm) test platform for cosmic rays based on a well-designed Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) with excellent time resolution and a high detection efficiency for minimum ionizing particles. The time resolution of the MRPC module used is tested to be ∼80 ps, and the position resolution along the strip is ∼5 mm, while the position resolution perpendicular to the strip is ∼12.7 mm. The platform constructed by four MRPC modules can be used for tracking cosmic rays with a spatial resolution of ∼6.3 mm, and provide a reference time ∼40 ps.

The EEE experiment project: status and first physics results

The Extreme Energy Events Project is an experiment for the detection of Extensive Air Showers which exploits the Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber technology. At the moment 40 EEE muon telescopes, distributed all over the Italian territory, are taking data, allowing the relative analysis to produce the first interesting results, which are reported here. Moreover, this Project has a strong added value thanks to its effectiveness in terms of scientific communication, which derives from the peculiar way it was planned and carried on.

新型气体探测器MRPC

We review the development of a new type gaseous detector, MRPC (Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber, MRPC) in the last decade in China. With the successful operation in the STAR experiment at RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, RHIC) and the outstanding importance in charged particle identification, the MRPC technology has gained extensive interest and progress in the high-energy nuclear and particle physics.

Recombination: An important effect in multigap resistive plate chambers

We have simulated the gas avalanche in a multigap resistive plate chamber (MRPC). The results were then compared with our data from the MRPC [1]. Up to now, the total amount of charge produced in a gas gap is considered to be given by the total number of positive ions generated by the gas avalanches. However, the total charge generated by the simulation program is much too large and is in conflict with our data. Our data indicate that nearly 100% of the negative ions recombine with the positive ions. The recombination effect dramatically reduces the amount of charge in the gas gap: a very important feature for MRPC technology especially for the rate capability.

Improvement of resonance reconstruction with time-of-flight detector at STAR experiment

With the upgrade of the barrel Time-Of-Flight (TOF) detector, based on Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber technology, the particle identification capability of the STAR experiment will be improved greatly. In order to further understand the performance of TOF more practically, vector meson φ ( 1020 ) and K * ( 892 ) are reconstructed from their two-charged-particle decay mode using the data generated from Au + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV . With the TOF to identify one of the two charged-daughter particles, the resonance significance could be increased by 2–4 times, compared to the identification of two charged-daughter particles using the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) only. This promising performance on resonance reconstruction from the TOF will enhance the measurements of short lived particles at RHIC.