Development of a tracking detector and kinematic reconstruction methods for the electron-ion collider

Maple, Stephen Christopher ORCID: 0009-0006-1222-0221 (2024). Development of a tracking detector and kinematic reconstruction methods for the electron-ion collider. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is a future facility that will be constructed at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) over the next decade, to begin data-taking in the early 2030s.
Studies performed for the optimisation of the tracking system of ePIC, the EIC project detector, are presented. The EIC physics programme places stringent requirements on the tracking system, which must be high precision, low mass and well integrated. Simulations are performed for various tracking geometries, which are implemented in Geant4-based frameworks with varying levels of realism for the geometry and reconstruction, and the performance is evaluated. The design of the tracking system has been iteratively updated in line with such performance studies and projections of the technology, which inform the current ePIC tracking design. It is found that in order to achieve the EIC physics goals with the 1.7 T solenoidal magnetic field to be used in ePIC, large area tracking layers built using high precision and low mass monolithic silicon sensors are required. The performance targets are challenging to meet in the endcap trackers for a 1.7 T field, and so a combination of measurements from the tracking and calorimetry systems will be required.
An accurate reconstruction of the kinematic variables x, y, and Q^2 is essential for the EIC inclusive physics programme. The ability of the ePIC detector to reconstruct the kinematic variables is studied, and the resolutions of the methods optimised throughout the phase space. Conventional reconstruction methods usually rely on two of the four measured quantities (energy and polar angle of the scattered electron and hadronic final state). A novel reconstruction method is presented whereby the kinematic variables, and the energy of possible initial state photon radiation, are reconstructed through a kinematic fit of all measured quantities in a Bayesian framework using informative priors. The method is validated for smeared generated DIS events, fully simulated ePIC events, and is also applied to simulations and data from the H1 experiment at the HERA collider.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):