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Transition-Radiation-Detectors (TRD). Transition-Radiation-Detectors (TRD). How it works Transition radiation is emitted whenever charged particles cross an interface between two media with different dielectric functions. Predicted by Ginzburg & Franck (1946)
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Transition-Radiation-Detectors (TRD) • How it works • Transition radiation is emitted whenever charged particles cross an interface between two media with different dielectric functions. • Predicted by Ginzburg & Franck (1946) • Experimentally observed by Goldsmith & Jelley (1959)
The TRD working principle Relativistic charged particle Radiator Detector
Yield per interface proportional to =1/137 • About 100 foils to get on average a single photon • Many interfaces give interference pattern
Depends on Lorentz factor • For large the yield saturates and the spectrum becomes harder
Lorentz factors for some typical situations Particle p (GeV/c) electron 0.1 196 0.5 978 1.0 1956 5.0 9784 pion 1 7.5 10 74 100 740 500 3703
The yield saturates rapidly with the thickness of the foil d1 • Average TR energy proportional to d1
TRD’s are especially useful to identify electrons against heavier particles (e.g. pions)
To detect the TR photons a multiwire proportional chamber filled with a heavy gas is used
Xe-based mixtures usually used • 10-20 mm gas depth is a good choice
dE/dx in a TPC • TRD’s are really needed because other techniques may be not suited to the need of discriminating electrons from other particles
TRD are able to “see” all dE/dx charged particles • However, for electrons, there is an extra boost
Transition-Radiation-Detectors (TRD) • Basically, the structure of a TRD is made of • a set of N radiators (foils or fibers) • a set of N detectors (MWPC with Xe mixture) • combined into N layers of (Radiator+Detector) • To identify electrons: • Measure charge Q in one layer • Combine information from N layers to build probability
Summary of experiments employing Transition-Radiation-Detectors
CAD view • ALICE simulated Pb+Pb event at 5.5 A TeV
TRD in ALICE TRD Electron ID
Dielectron reconstruction in ALICE • Pb+Pb events at 5.5 A TeV