The MRPC detector for the ALICE Time Of Flight System: Final Design and Performances

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2006.07.035
• Publication Date: 2006-09-08T15:49:03Z
• Authors: A. Akindinov; S. Alessandrini; A. Alici; P. Antonioli; S. Arcelli; M. Basile; G. Cara Romeo; D. Cavazza; L. Cifarelli; F. Cindolo; I. D'Antone; A. De Caro; S. De Pasquale; A. Di Bartolomeo; M. Furini; M. Fusco Girard; V. Golovin; Yu. Grishuk; M. Guerzoni; M. Guida; D. Hatzifotiadou; W.W. Jung; H.N. Kim; D.H. Kim; D.W. Kim; S. Kiselev; G. Laurenti; M.L. Luvisetto; D. Mal'kevich; A. Margotti; F. Massera; S. Meneghini; R. Michinelli; R. Nania; F. Noferini; G. Pancaldi; A. Pesci; R. Pilastrini; O. Pinazza; R. Preghenella; M. Rizzi; M. Ryabinin; E. Scapparone; G. Scioli; S. Sellitto; F. Semeria; S. Serra; R. Silvestri; A. Smirnitski; E. Ugolini; E. Usenko; K. Voloshin; M.C.S. Williams; B. Zagreev; C. Zampolli; A. Zichichi; A. Zinine; A. Zucchini; M. Zuffa
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy

The ALICE Time Of Flight (TOF) system will perform charged particle identification in the intermediate momentum range (from 0.5 to a few GeV/c) and in the central pseudorapidity region ( | η | 0.9 ). In particular the TOF has to cover an area of ∼ 160m2 and has to be highly segmented (∼ 160000 readout pads of 2.5 × 3.7 cm2 active area) in order to keep the occupancy in Pb-Pb collisions below the 15 % level. In order to satisfy these requirements, the double-stack MRPC detector has been chosen for the TOF system. The most relevant results on the performances of the final version of the MRPC and of the front-end/readout electronics will be presented. The device has a very good uniformity, a long streamer-free plateau, an efficiency higher than 99 % and an intrinsic time resolution below 50 ps.