Development and commissioning of the silicon pixel GigaTracker for the NA62 experiment at CERN
(2016)
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- Authors
- Supervisors
- Cortina Gil, Eduardo
- Abstract
- The standard model of particle physics describes the microscopic interactions of elementary particles with an unprecedented accuracy over a wide range of energies. However, observations such as the neutrino oscillations or the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe do not fit the current description. In addition, some theoretical features of the model are unsatisfactory. In a complementary manner to the direct searches, accurate measurements of the branching fraction of rare processes like the K → πνν̅ decay could potentially reveal hints of beyond the standard model physics. Doing such a measurement using a decay-in-flight technique requires the active tracking of a high-intensity hadron beam. This brings new challenges in terms of detector temporal resolution, radiation hardness, material budget and data processing capabilities. This dissertation focuses on the development and commissioning of a silicon pixel tracker with a hit time resolution below 150 ps for the NA62 experiment at CERN. The GigaTracker is the result of more than ten years of research and development. Important aspects of the project are covered in this work. The main outcomes are the characterisation of the sensors radiation hardness; the implementation of a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the GigaTracker; the assessment of the impact of the tracker material on the other detectors and the elaboration of innovative solutions for the spatial-temporal alignment and calibration of the GigaTracker stations. In parallel, a GigaTracker prototype, and later the final detector, were thoughtfully studied. We report an unmatched time resolution for this kind of detectors. To conclude, a first survey of the performance of the global NA62 setup was conducted.
- Affiliations
Citations
Velghe, B. (2016). Development and commissioning of the silicon pixel GigaTracker for the NA62 experiment at CERN. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/184545