The OPERA cosmic ray test facility at the Gran Sasso

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2004.07.031
• Publication Date: 2004-08-04T14:11:17Z
• Authors: R. Brugnera; A. Candela; E. Carrara; F. Dal Corso; M. De Deo; L. Degli Esposti; M. D'Incecco; S. Dusini; C. Fanin; A. Garfagnini; F. Grianti; C. Gustavino; M. Lindozzi; A. Mengucci; P. Monacelli; R. Moro; A. Paoloni; L. Stanco; E. Tatananni; F. Terranova; M. Spinetti; M. Stipcevic; M. Ventura; L. Votano; B. Zauner
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Glass RPC; OPERA experiment; Streamer mode; Nuclear and High Energy Physics; Instrumentation

The OPERA experiment foresees the use of about 3000m2 of RPCs, that will be tested before the installation in a dedicated cosmic ray test facility. The test facility is composed of 2 triggering walls selecting horizontal cosmic rays muons. Each wall houses 64 glass RPCs equipped with 128 horizontal Flat Cable Strips. The z-coordinate is measured with a standard digital chain, while the x-coordinate is obtained by measuring the propagation time of the signals along the strips. In this paper the performance of the trigger walls and the first results of the RPC debug are presented.