41625716
Physics in ATLAS at a possible upgraded LHC
The impact on the physics capabilities of the ATLAS detector of possible LHC upgrades is discussed. A doubling of the LHC energy or an increase in the luminosity by a factor of ten are considered. Both upgrades significantly enhance the physics capabilities of ATLAS. In general, the energy upgrade is more powerful since the pile-up of minimum bias events at higher luminosity impacts the physics performance of ATLAS in some areas.
125535688
Cosmic Ray, Beam-Halo and Beam-Gas Rate Studies for ATLAS Commissioning
16422857
Preparing for LHC data-taking with the ATLAS experiment
The status of the ATLAS experiment a few months before the start-up of LHC operation is described. Emphasis is given to the preparation for the imminent data-taking phase through commissioning studies with cosmics data. A few examples of the physics potential and goals with early LHC data are also presented.
126272154
Tagging of low-pt electrons from b decays with the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter
125551627
Study of gamma/jet separation with the ATLAS detector
14248170
Impact of energy and luminosity upgrades at LHC on the physics programme of ATLAS
The impact of possible LHC upgrades on the physics capabilities of the ATLAS detector is discussed. As a benchmark, an increase in the luminosity by a factor of 10 is considered. For comparison, the doubling of the LHC energy is also explored. Both upgrades significantly enhance the physics capabilities of ATLAS. Measured in terms of the mass reach for new particles, the energy upgrade is more powerful. However, in cases where the effect of an upgrade is to increase the precision of measurements as a result of larger data samples, the luminosity upgrade can be at least as powerful. The pile-up of minimum bias events at higher luminosity could limit the physics performance of ATLAS in areas where tagging of forward jets is needed.
109815200
Test campaign of the mini-calorimeter for the AGILE satellite
The AGILE Mini-Calorimeter (MCAL, with total on-axis radiation length 1.5 X0) comprises 2 orthogonal planes each consisting of 16 CsI(Tl) bars. Its primary purpose is the energy determination of gamma-rays detected by the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID) Tracker (energy range 30 MeV–50 GeV). In addition, the MCAL is capable of independently triggering and detecting gamma-ray bursts and other impulsive events in the energy range 0.25–250 MeV. A MCAL prototype, comprising 8 CsI(Tl) detector elements, was tested both with laboratory sources and with charged particles (p=1 GeV/c) during an AGILE Beam Test carried out in November 2000 at the CERN T11 beamline (East Hall, CERN PS). The test setup included a prototype of the electronic chain. A prototype of the digital data acquisition chain, which will be the baseline of the payload Electronic Ground Support Equipment, was also built and tested. We present the preliminary results of this test campaign dedicated to characterizing the detector unit and electronics.
119226776
The AGILE Science Alert System
The AGILE Science Alert System has been developed to provide prompt processing of science data for detection and alerts on gamma-ray galactic and extra galactic transients, gamma-ray bursts, X-ray bursts and other transients in the hard X-rays. The system is distributed among the AGILE Data Center (ADC) of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Frascati (Italy), and the AGILE Team Quick Look sites, located at INAF/IASF Bologna and INAF/IASF Roma. We present the Alert System architecture and performances in the first 2 years of operation of the AGILE payload.
121974449
The mini-calorimeter for the AGILE satellite
AGILE is a small space mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) devoted to observations for astrophysics in the gamma-ray energy range 30 MeV-50 GeV with a simultaneous window in the X-ray band 10 keV-40 keV. AGILE payload is made of a tungsten-silicon tracker, a CsI mini-calorimeter for the high energy band and a silicon based X-ray detector (SuperAgile); an anticoincidence system carries out background rejection. In the gamma-ray's band the satellite will have a field of view of about 1/5 of the sky, with angular resolution of a few arc-minutes and good timing resolution. For the high energy AGILE detection principle is based on the pair production process that arises from the interaction between photons and the tungsten layers above the silicon tracker. The silicon tracker is designed to determine the direction of the incoming radiation, while the mini-calorimeter evaluates the energy of the interacting photons and particles. For the detection of transients and gamma-ray burst events, the mini-calorimeter will also work as a stand-alone gamma-ray detector, with no imaging capabilities, covering the energy range 250 keV-250 MeV. The mini-calorimeter is made of an array of position sensitive CsI(Tl) scintillator bars with photodiode read-out. The characteristics of its detector elements and the front end electronics signal processing allow a moderate position reconstruction of the detected event. In this paper a description of the mini-calorimeter is reported as well as a summary of performances reached with the pre-flight instrument models already built and tested.
13932374
Design and Construction of the Mini-Calorimeter of the AGILE Satellite
Abstract AGILE is a small space mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) devoted to gamma-ray and hard-X astrophysics, successfully launched on April 23, 2007. The AGILE Payload is composed of three instruments: a gamma-ray imager based on a tungsten-silicon tracker (ST), for observations in the gamma ray energy range 30 MeV–50 GeV, a Silicon based X-ray detector, SuperAGILE (SA), for imaging in the range 18–60 keV and a CsI(Tl) Mini-Calorimeter (MCAL) that detects gamma rays or charged particles energy loss in the range 300 keV–100 MeV. MCAL is composed of 30 CsI(Tl) scintillator bars with photodiode readout at both ends, arranged in two orthogonal layers. MCAL can work both as a slave of the ST and as an independent gamma-ray detector for transients and gamma-ray bursts detection. In this paper a detailed description of MCAL is presented together with its performance.
107972078
The Test Equipment of the AGILE Minicalorimeter Prototype
AGILE is an ASI (Italian Space Agency) Small Space Mission for high energy astrophysics in the range 30 MeV – 50 GeV. The AGILE satellite is currently in the C phase and is planned to be launched in 2005. The Payload shall consist of a Tungsten‐Silicon Tracker, a CsI Minicalorimeter, an anticoincidence system and a X‐Ray detector sensitive in the 10–40 KeV range. The purpose of the Minicalorimeter (MCAL) is twofold. It shall work in conjunction with the Tracker in order to evaluate the energy of the interacting photons, and it shall operate autonomously in the energy range 250KeV–250 MeV for detection of transients and gamma ray burst events and for the measurement of gamma ray background fluctuations. We present the architecture of the Test Equipment we have designed and developed in order to test and verify the MCAL Simplified Electrical Model prototype which has been manufactured in order to validate the design of the MCAL Proto Flight Model.