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ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment), is the dedicated heavy-ion experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It is optimised to reconstruct and identify the particles created in a lead-lead collision with a centre of mass energy of 5.5TeV. The main tracking detector is a large-volume time-projection chamber (TPC). With an active volume of about 88m^3 and a total readout area of 32.5m^2 it is the most challenging TPC ever build. A central electrode divides the 5m long detector into two drift regions. Each readout side is subdivided into 18 inner and 18 outer multi-wire proportional read-out chambers. The readout area is subdivide into 557568 pads, where each pad is read out by and electronics chanin. A complex calibration is needed in order to reach the design position-resolution of the reconstructed particle tracks of about 200um. One part of the calibration lies in understanding the electronic-response. The work at hand presents results of the pedestal and noise behaviour of the front-end electronics (FEE), measurements of the pulse-shaping properties of the FEE using results obtained with a calibration pulser and measurements performed with the laser-calibration system. The data concerned were taken during two phases of the TPC commissioning. First measurements were performed in the clean room where the TPC was built. After the TPC was moved underground and built into the experiment, a second round of commissioning took place. Noise measurements in the clean room revealed a very large fraction of pads with noise values larger than the design specifications. The unexpected high noise values could be explained by the 'ground bounce' effect. Two modifications helped to reduce this effect: A desynchronisation in the the start of the readout of groups of channels and a modification in the grounding scheme of the FEE. Further noise measurements were carried out after the TPC has been moved to the experimental area underground. Here even a larger fraction of channels showed too large noise values. This could be traced back to a common mode current injected by the electronics power supplies. To study the shaping properties of the FEE a calibration pulser was used. To generate signals in the FEE a pulse is injected to the cathode wires of the read-out chambers. Due to manufacturing tolerances slight channel-by-channel variations of the shaping properties are expected. This effects the determination of the arrival time as well as the measured integral signal of the induced charge and has to be corrected. The measured arrival time variations follow a Gaussian distribution with a width (sigma) of 6.2ns. This corresponds to an error of the cluster position of about 170um. The charge variations are on the level of 2.8%. In order to reach the intrinsic resolution on the measurement of the specific energy loss of the particles (6%) those variations have to be taken into account. The photons of the laser-calibration system are energetic enough to emit photo electrons off metallic surfaces. Most interesting for the detector calibration are photo electrons from the central electrode. The laser light is intense enough to get a signal in all readout channels of the TPC. Since the central electrode is a smooth surface, differences in the arrival time between sectors reveal mechanical displacements of the readout sectors and can be used to correct for this effect. In addition the measurements can be used to determine the electron drift velocity in the TPC gas. The drift velocity measurements have shown a vertical as well as a radial gradient. The first can be explained by the temperature gradient, which naturally builds up in the 5m high detector. The second gradient is most probably caused by a relative conical deformation of the readout plane and the central electrode.
The strong nuclear force is described by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the parallel field theory to Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) that describes the electromagnetic force. It is propagated by gluons analogously to photons in the electromagnetic force, but unlike photons, which do not carry electric charge, gluons carry color, and they can self-interact. However, as individual quarks have never been observed in nature, it is postulated that the color charge itself is confined, and hence all baryons and mesons must be colorless objects. To study nuclear matter under extreme conditions, it is necessary to create hot and dense nuclear matter in the laboratory. In such conditions the confinement between quarks and gluons is cancelled (deconfinement). This state is characterized with a qusi-free behavior of quarks and gluons. The strange (s) and anti-strange (anti-s) quarks are not contained in the colliding nuclei, but are newly produced and show up in the strange hadrons in the final state. It was suggested that strange particle production is enhanced in the QGP with respect to that in a hadron gas. This enhancement is relative to a collision where a transition to a QGP phase does not take place, such as p+p collisions where the system size is very small. Therefore the energy- and system size dependence is studied to receive a picture about the initial state. In this thesis experimental results on the energy- and system size dependence of Xi hyperon production at the CERN SPS is shown. All measurements were performed with the NA49 detector at the CERN SPS. NA49 took central lead-lead collisions from 20 - 158 AGeV, minimus bias lead-lead collisions at 40 and 158 AGeV, and semi-central silicon-silicon colisions at 158 AGeV. The NA49 experiment features a large acceptance in the forward hemisphere allowing for measurements of Xi rapidity spectra. At the SPS accelerator at CERN Pb+Pb collisions are performed with beam energies to 158 AGeV. The analyzed data sets were taken in the period from 1999 to 2002. The NA49 experiment is a large acceptance hadron spectrometer, which measures charged hadrons in a wide acceptance. The main components are the four TPCs (Time Projection Chamber). The centrality of nucleon-nucleon collisions was done by measuring the not in the collision participating (spectator-) nucleons in the VETO-calorimeter. The study of strangeness is motivated by its role as a signature for the Quark Gluon Plasma. Any enhancement in the yield must be with respect to a ’normal’ yield, where a QGP is not formed. This is usually taken to mean suitably scaled p+p collisions, where the volume of the system created is too small for a QGP to occur. The results at SPS and RHIC energies show an enhancement, with the doubly strange Xi? being enhanced more than the Lambda, in accordance with the original prediction. However, the enhancement at SPS energies is higher than at RHIC energies.
In the present work we applied the Optically read out PArticle track Chamber, OPAC, for the measurement of radial dose distributions, d(r), around tracks of heavy ions passing through the gas-filled sensitive volume of the chamber. The measured data were compared with d(r) functions derived from data calculated with the Monte Carlo particle transport code, TRAX – which is used for the heavy ion therapy planning at GSI. To measure this quantity we have used here an optically read out time projection chamber (OPAC) with a parallel-drift field and one or several electron and light amplification stages. The two dimensional projection of the three dimensional ionization pattern caused by the ionizing particle passing through the chamber is captured by an image intensified CCD camera. The work is motivated by the role the radial dose distribution plays in the estimation of the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of heavy ions, e.g. in radiation therapy and in radiation protection. The most successful model for high-dose irradiation with ions (applicable e.g. for heavy ion therapy) is found to be the local effect model (LEM). The present work intends to deliver measured data for one of the basic physical parameters which serve as input for the application of the local effect model: the radial dose distribution, d(r). The first goal of our measurement program was the measurement of d(r) distributions around carbon ions of different energies from 400 MeV/u down to the Bragg peak regions. We found an excellent agreement between the measured and simulated distributions at all carbon energies for the r–range in which the measurements deliver useful results. The lower limit of this range is about 100 nm and the upper limit is 6000 nm at a resolution of down to 33 nm - if scaled to water density. Despite the simplifications in the TRAX code (e.g. binary encounter theory for the emission ionization electrons), the discrepancies between the simulated and measured d(r) distributions are found to be lower than the measurement uncertainties at most measured carbon ion energies in almost the whole observed r-range. Hence, within the limitations of our measurements we can conclude that the precision of TRAX is sufficient to simulate the d(r) distributions around carbon ions to serve as input parameter for therapy planning. However, this conclusion is only valid for larger radial distances (r >100 nm). For smaller radial distances the measured data are dominated by the diffusion. Apart from carbon ion tracks, tracks of very heavy ions (40Ar, 84Kr and 238U) were also measured with OPAC. The simulated d(r) values were typically slightly or significantly higher than the measured data in the 100 nm < r < 5000 nm region. The experience has shown: the heavier or the faster the ion, the higher the discrepancies. On the one hand, we found a surprisingly good agreement between measurements and simulations if the ions had energies of around 50 MeV/u (i.e. relatively low energy). On the other hand, at higher energies, simulated data underestimate the measured ones by up to a factor of two in the region of 100 nm < r < 1000 nm for 84Kr (E = 650 MeV/u) or in the region of 100 nm < r < 6000 nm for 238U (E = 1 GeV/u). A possible reason for these discrepancies is that the BEA model, used in TRAX for the production ionization electrons, is not adequate for very heavy projectiles. The energy values of the very heavy ions were selected with the aim of comparing the track structures - and namely the d(r) distributions - of ions with largely different atomic mass but similar LET values. From the Z-dependency of the stopping power we know that for heavier ions a higher specific ion energy (expressed in MeV/u) is required to provide the same LET. For example the common LET of 315 keV/micro-m was achieved at largely different specific energy levels of 4,4 MeV/u for 12C, 65 MeV/u for 40Ar and 650 MeV/u for 84Kr ions. The difference in the track structures was expected mainly due to the different ion velocities and thus e.g. different ranges of d-electrons. This expectation could be confirmed by the measurements. The reason why - in line with the simulations - no strong differences could be observed in the d(r) distributions of the argon and krypton ions is the relatively small difference in the velocities of the both ion types in conjunction with the limited range in r, where the data can be compared. In contrary, the d(r) function of the carbon ion shows a qualitatively different behavior than the heavier ions inside the observable radius-range - in agreement with the simulations.
For this thesis photon and pi0 spectra in Gold-Gold-collisions at an energy of sqrt(s_NN) = 62 GeV were measured using the STAR-experiment at RHIC. Heavy ion collisions allow to study strongly interacting matter under extreme condiditons in the laborartory. Nuclear matter is strongly compressed and heated. Theories predict in a system of strongy interacting matter at high temperature and pressure a phase transition from hadronic matter, in which quarks are bound into hadrons, to a plasma of free quarks and gluons (QGP). To study the properties of this created medium, a number of different observables is available. One possibility to determine the temperature of such a system, is to measure the photon emission from the medium. The experimental difficulty is that there are more mechanisms producing photons than just the thermal production. Photons are produced in hard scattering processes or can be the result of the interaction of hard partons with the medium. According to theoretical calculations the photon yield from hard processes exceeds the thermal production for transverse momenta above 3 GeV/c. Photons from hard processes and thermal photons are referred to as direct photons, because they are produced inside of the medium. The largest part of the photons below pt=3GeV/c, however, comes from electromagnetic decays of hadrons in the final state of the collision. The largest fraction comes from the pi0- and the eta-mesons. Their contribution to the photon spectra can be determined by measuring the spectra of these decaying particles and calculating the resulting, corresponding photon spectra. The experimental difficulty is to measure these spectra to an accuracy of a few percent because the decay photons make up about 90% of all photons in the relevant phase space region. The STAR-experiment provides different detectors to measure photons and pi0-mesons. The primary detector for this kind of measurement are the electromagnetic calorimeters. However, the analysis described in this thesis uses the time projection chamber (TPC). Because photons don't carry electric charge and the TPC is only sensitive to charged particles, a conversion of the photon into an electron-positron-pair is required. This happens inside the electromagnetic fields of the nuclei and the electrons in the atomic shell of the detector material in the experimental setup of STAR. The resulting electron and positron tracks are measrued in the TPC. In chapter 3 the reconstruction of conversions from the measured tracks is described. Chapter 4 discusses the efficiency of the measurement, which is determined with a Monte-Carlo-Method, and the uncertainties of the correction. Chapter 5 presents the results of the analysis. The data set, on which the analysis is based, consists of Gold-Gold-Collisions an a center of mass energy of sqrt(s_NN)=62GeV. The selection criteria for individual events during data taking and during the analysis are explained. The data set is divided into four centrality selection classes. The first result are the transverse momentum and rapidity spectra of inclusive photons for all four centralities and the whole data set. Pi0-spectra versus transverse momentum for the four centralities and the whole data set are also shown. The pi0-spectra are compared to the spectra of pi0-mesons measured by the PHENIX-Collaboration at the same energy and with pi0-spectra measured by STAR at full RHIC energy. In addition a comparison to charged pi+- and pi--spectra is shown, which were also measured by the STAR collaboration. It is attempted to extract the fraction of direct photons by dividing the spectra of inclusive photons by the spectra of simulated decay photons. In these simulations pi0- and eta-spectra are modeled based on the pi+- and pi--spectra. Studying the uncertainties of this procedure shows that the size of the uncertainties is of the same magnitude as the signal of direct photons. Also the systematic uncertainties of the pi+- and pi--spectra are similar. Therefore the measurement of direct photon spectra is not possible. In chapter 6 possibilities are described to reduce the large systematic uncertainties. In addition it is discussed, what could be done with an already existing data set at full RHIC energy and how the addition of a dedicated converter during a future data taking period could reduce the systematic errors. The result of this thesis are inklusive photon and pi0 spectra. The systematic uncertainties were extensively studied. It is described, which enhancements are necessary to provide the perspective for measuring direct photons in the area of 1 to 3 GeV/c transverse momentum.
Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Charakterisierung des ALTRO Chips (ALICE TPC Readout), der ein integraler und wichtiger Bestandteil der Auslesekette des TPC (Time Projection Chamber) Detektors von ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) ist. ALICE ist ein Experiment am noch im Bau befindlichen LHC (Large Hadron Collider) am CERN mit der zentralen Ausrichtung, Schwerionenkollisionen zu untersuchen. Diese sind von besonderem Interesse, da durch sie ein experimenteller Zugriff zu dem QGP (Quark Gluon Plasma) existiert, dem einzigen vom Standardmodell vorhergesagten Phasenübergang, der unter Laborbedingungen erreichbar ist. Im Jahr 2004 wurden Messungen an einem Teststrahl am CERN PS (Proton Synchrotron) durchgeführt. Der Prototyp wurde voll mit FECs bestückt, was 5400 Kanälen entspricht und einer anderen Gasmixtur (Ne/N2/CO2 90%/5%/5%) befüllt. Für das optimale Leistungsverhalten der ALICE TPC muß der Digitalprozessor im ALTRO, bestehend aus vier Berechnungseinheiten, mit den passenden Werten konfiguriert werden. Der Datenfluss beginnt mit dem BCS1 (Baseline Correction and Subtraction 1) Modul, das systematische Störungen und die Grundlinie entfernt. Da der ALTRO kontinuierlich das anliegende Signal abtastet, entfernt es automatisch langsame Grundlinienveränderungen, die Beispielsweise durch Temperaturänderungen auftreten können. Gefolgt von dem TCF (Tail Cancellation Filter), der den Schweif des langsam fallenden, vom PASA generierten Signals entfernt. Um die nichtsystematischen Störungen der Grundlinie zu entfernen, folgt die BCS2 (Baseline Correction and Subtraction 2), die auf einer gleitenden Mittelwertsberechnung mit Ausschluß von Detektorsignalen über einen doppelten Schwellenwert basiert. Die finale Einheit für die Signalverarbeitung ist die ZSU (Zero Suppression Unit), die Meßpunkte unterhalb eines definierten Schwellwertes entfernt. Hier wird der weg beschrieben die TCF und BCS1 Parameter aus vorhandenen Detektordaten zu extrahieren. Während der Analyse der Daten von kosmischen Teilchen fiel bei Signalen mit hoher Amplitude (>700 ADC) eine zusätzliche Struktur in dem Schweif auf. Der Monitor wurde deswegen mit einem gleitenden Mittelwertfilter erweitert, worauf sich diese Struktur auch in kleineren Signalen (> 200 ADC) zeigte. Dieses Signal wird von Ionen erzeugt, die zur Kathode oder zu den Pads driften, bisher ist jedoch weder die Streuung der Elektronenlawine an der Anode, noch die Variationsbreite in den erzeugten Elektronlawinen verstanden oder gemessen worden. Eine erfolgreiche Messung, sowie Charakterisierung wird in dieser Arbeit beschrieben. Im Jahr 2005 im Sommer beginnt der Einbau der Gaskammern der TPC in ALICE, die Elektronik folgt am Ende dieses Jahres. Parallel hierzu wurde der Prototyp der TPC wieder in Betrieb genommen und im Frühling wird ein kompletter Sektor mit der Detektorelektronik ausgestattet. An diesen zwei Aufbauten wird die ALTRO Charakterisierung fortgeführt, verfeinert und komplettiert.