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年长期计划（LRP）的四项关键建议之一包括增加对中小型项目和倡议的投资，使大学和实验室能够进行前沿研究。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。这个项目是芝加哥州立大学和加州州立理工大学开发的粒子物理探测器，它将使欧洲大型强子对撞机（LHC）的世界级物理学家和工程师的国际合作知识转移到我们的大学。这将为培养电子学、检测技术、激光技术、数据分析和仪器接口方面的本科生提供独特的机会。本文提出的快速相互作用触发探测器（FIT）是一种满足LHC粒子探测器系统（称为ALICE）的最小偏差触发特定要求的仪器：(a)能够以99%的效率区分由LHC产生的碰撞，Pb-Pb碰撞速率为50 kHz， p-p和p-Pb碰撞速率为200 kHz。(b)为其他ALICE探测器（0级触发）提供启动信号的能力，时间分辨率优于30 ps。除了这些设计参数外，FIT探测器还将提供以下测量：(a)带电粒子多重性(b)相互作用反应平面(c)碰撞顶点位置的首次测量。FIT也将是向大型强子对撞机提供直接反馈的关键探测器。它将是第一个启动的爱丽丝探测器，用于进行光束调谐和在线监测亮度。这些特性在任何供应商提供的仪器中都不具备，需要开发一种独特的仪器，处于高能核物理和粒子物理触发探测器的前沿。

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.