A1 Journal article (refereed)
Data-driven precision determination of the material budget in ALICE (2023)

ALICE collaboration. (2023). Data-driven precision determination of the material budget in ALICE. Journal of Instrumentation, 18(11), Article P11032. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/18/11/P11032

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: ALICE collaboration

Journal or series: Journal of Instrumentation

eISSN: 1748-0221

Publication year: 2023

Publication date: 01/11/2023

Volume: 18

Issue number: 11

Article number: P11032

Publisher: IOP Publishing

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/18/11/P11032

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/93083

Web address of parallel published publication (pre-print): https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.15317

Abstract

The knowledge of the material budget with a high precision is fundamental for measurements of direct photon production using the photon conversion method due to its direct impact on the total systematic uncertainty. Moreover, it influences many aspects of the charged-particle reconstruction performance. In this article, two procedures to determine data-driven corrections to the material-budget description in ALICE simulation software are developed. One is based on the precise knowledge of the gas composition in the Time Projection Chamber. The other is based on the robustness of the ratio between the produced number of photons and charged particles, to a large extent due to the approximate isospin symmetry in the number of produced neutral and charged pions. Both methods are applied to ALICE data allowing for a reduction of the overall material budget systematic uncertainty from 4.5% down to 2.5%. Using these methods, a locally correct material budget is also achieved. The two proposed methods are generic and can be applied to any experiment in a similar fashion.

Keywords: particle physics

Free keywords: Analysis and statistical methods; Detector modelling and simulations I (interaction of radiation with matter, interaction of photons with matter, interaction of hadrons with matter, etc); Large detector systems for particle and astroparticle physics; Particle tracking detectors

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Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2023

Preliminary JUFO rating: 1