Super Proton Synchrotron Accelerator Research Articles

New physics searches using ProtoDUNE and the CERN SPS accelerator

The exquisite capabilities of liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers make them ideal to search for weakly interacting particles in Beyond the Standard Model scenarios. Given their location at CERN the ProtoDUNE detectors may be exposed to a flux of such particles, produced in the collisions of 400 GeV protons (extracted from the Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator) on a target. Here we point out the interesting possibilities that such a setup offers to search for both long-lived unstable particles (Heavy Neutral Leptons, axion-like particles, etc) and stable particles (e.g. light dark matter, or millicharged particles). Our results show that, under conservative assumptions regarding the expected luminosity, this setup has the potential to improve over present bounds for some of the scenarios considered. This could be done within a short timescale, using facilities that are already in place at CERN, and without interfering with the experimental program in the North Area at CERN.

Study of energy response and resolution of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter to hadrons of energies from 16 to 30 GeV

Three spare modules of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter were exposed to test beams from the Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator at CERN in 2017. The detector’s measurements of the energy response and resolution to positive pions and kaons, and protons with energies ranging from 16 to 30 GeV are reported. The results have uncertainties of a few percent. They were compared to the predictions of the Geant4-based simulation program used in ATLAS to estimate the response of the detector to proton-proton events at the Large Hadron Collider. The determinations obtained using experimental and simulated data agree within the uncertainties.

The NA62 Liquid Krypton calorimeter readout architecture

The NA62 experiment [1] at the CERN SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron) accelerator studies the ultra-rare decays of charged kaons. The high-resolution Liquid Krypton (LKr) electromagnetic calorimeter of the former NA48 experiment [2] is a key component of the experiment photon-veto system. The new LKr readout system comprises 14,000 14-bit ADC acquisition channels, 432× 1 Gbit Ethernet data request and readout links routed by 28× 10 Gbit network switches to the experiment computer farm, and timing, trigger and control (TTC) distribution system. This paper presents the architecture of the LKr readout and TTC systems, the overall performance and the first successfully collected experiment physics data.

The New Readout System of the NA62 LKr Calorimeter

The NA62 experiment at CERN SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron) accelerator aims at studying Kaon decays with high precision. The high resolution Liquid Krypton (LKr) calorimeter, built for the NA48 experiment, is a crucial part of the photon-veto system; to cope with the demanding NA62 requirements, its back-end electronics had to be completely renewed. The new readout system is based on the Calorimeter REAdout Module (CREAM) , a 6U VME board whose design and production was sub-contracted to CAEN , with CERN NA62 group continuously supervising the development and production phase. The first version of the board was delivered by the manufacturer in March 2013 and, as of June 2014, the full board production is ongoing. In addition to describing the CREAM board, all aspects of the new LKr readout system, including its integration within the NA62 TDAQ scheme, will be treated.

The NA62 liquid Krypton calorimeter's new readout system

The NA62 experiment [1] at CERN SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron) accelerator aims at studying Kaon decays with high precision. The high resolution Liquid Krypton (LKr) calorimeter, built for the NA48 [2] experiment, is a crucial part of the experiment photon-veto system; to cope with the new requirements, the back-end electronics of the LKr had to be completely renewed.Due to the huge number of the calorimeter readout channels ( ∼ 14 K) and the maintenance requirement over 10 years of the experiment lifetime, the decision to sub-contract the development and production to industry was taken in 2011. This paper presents the primary test results of the Calorimeter REAdout Module (CREAM) [3] prototype delivered by the manufacturer in March 2013. All essential features, analog performance, data processing and readout, are covered.

The NA62 Liquid Krypton calorimeter readout module

The NA62 experiment [1] at CERN SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron) accelerator will be focused on precision tests of the Standard Model via studies of ultra-rare decays of charged kaons. The high resolution Liquid Krypton (LKr) calorimeter of the former NA48 experiment [2], together with other detectors, will provide a photon-veto with hermetic coverage from zero out to large angles from the decay region. The old backend electronics [3] does not satisfy the NA62 specifications and the study of a new readout system began in 2008.This paper presents the Calorimeter REAdout Module (CREAM), an upgrade project for the backend part of the LKr data acquisition chain [3]. The CREAMs will provide 40 MHz sampling of 13248 calorimeter channels, data buffering during the SPS spill, zero suppression, and programmable trigger sums for the experiment trigger processor.