학술논문

MPX Detectors as LHC Luminosity Monitor
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on. 62(6):3225-3241 Dec, 2015
Subject
Nuclear Engineering
Bioengineering
Silicon
Pixel
Detectors
Atmospheric measurements
Calibration
Large Hadron Collider
Particle measurements
LHC
luminosity
medipix
pixel detectors
Language
ISSN
0018-9499
1558-1578
Abstract
A network of 16 Medipix-2 (MPX) silicon pixel devices was installed in the ATLAS detector cavern at CERN. It was designed to measure the composition and spectral characteristics of the radiation field in the ATLAS experiment and its surroundings. This study demonstrates that the MPX network can also be used as a self-sufficient luminosity monitoring system. The MPX detectors collect data independently of the ATLAS data-recording chain, and thus they provide independent measurements of the bunch-integrated ATLAS/LHC luminosity. In particular, the MPX detectors located close enough to the primary interaction point are used to perform van der Meer calibration scans with high precision. Results from the luminosity monitoring are presented for 2012 data taken at $\sqrt s = 8$ TeV proton-proton collisions. The characteristics of the LHC luminosity reduction rate are studied and the effects of beam-beam (burn-off) and beam-gas (single bunch) interactions are evaluated. The systematic variations observed in the MPX luminosity measurements are below 0.3% for one minute intervals.