MRI Consortium: Development of the Fast Interaction Trigger Detector for the ALICE Experiment at the LHC

核科学咨询委员会2015年远程计划(LRP)的四项关键建议之一包括增加对中小型项目的投资，以及使大学和实验室能够进行前沿研究的倡议。LRP还鼓励教育和劳动力发展，以及研究和开发最先进的核科学工具和技术。该项目是芝加哥州立大学和加州理工州立大学开发的粒子物理探测器，将使欧洲大型强子对撞机(LHC)世界级物理学家和工程师的国际合作知识能够转移到我们的大学。这将为本科生在电子学、探测技术、激光技术、数据分析和仪器接口方面的培训提供独特的机会。这里提出的快速相互作用触发探测器(FIT)是一种满足特定要求的仪器，作为大型强子对撞机粒子探测器系统(称为ALICE)的最小偏置触发：(A)能够区分束流-束流相互作用，对于LHC产生的碰撞，对于铅-铅碰撞，效率为99%；对于铅-铅碰撞，速度为50 kHz；对于p-p和p-铅碰撞，速度为200 kHz。(B)能够以优于30 ps的时间分辨率为其余ALICE探测器(0级触发)提供启动信号。除了这些设计参数外，FIT探测器还将提供以下测量：(A)带电粒子多重数(B)相互作用反应平面(C)碰撞顶点位置的第一次测量。FIT也将是向大型强子对撞机提供直接反馈的关键探测器。这将是爱丽丝探测器中第一个被打开以执行光束调谐和在线监测光度的探测器。供应商提供的任何仪器都不具备这些特性，因此需要开发一种独特的仪器，作为高能核物理和粒子物理触发探测器的先锋。

One of the four key recommendations of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee's 2015 Long Range Plan (LRP) included increasing investment in small-scale and mid-scale projects and initiatives that enable forefront research at universities and laboratories. The LRP also encourages education and workforce development as well as research and development into state-of-the-art tools and techniques for nuclear science. This project, the development of a particle physics detector at Chicago State University and California Polytechnic State University, will enable the transfer of knowledge from an international collaboration of world-class physicists and engineers at Europe's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to our universities. This will provide unique opportunities to train undergraduate students in electronics, detection techniques, laser technology, data analysis, and instrumentation interface. The Fast Interaction Trigger Detector (FIT) proposed here is an instrument that meets specific requirements as the Minimum Bias trigger for one of the particle detector systems (called ALICE) at the LHC: (a) The capability to discriminate beam-beam interactions with a 99% efficiency for the collisions generated by the LHC at a rate of 50 kHz for Pb-Pb collisions and a rate of 200 kHz for p-p and p-Pb collisions. (b) The capability to provide a start signal for the rest of the ALICE detectors (Level 0 trigger) with a time resolution better than 30 ps. In addition to these design parameters, the FIT detector will provide the following measurements: (a) Charged particle multiplicity (b) Interaction reaction plane (c) First measurement of the collision vertex position. FIT will also be the key detector to provide direct feedback to the LHC. It will be the first of the ALICE detectors to be turned on to perform beam tuning and monitor online luminosity. These characteristics, not available in any instrument provided by a vendor, require the development of a unique instrument at the vanguard of trigger detectors for high energy nuclear and particle physics.