Particle Detection A

Course manual 2020/2021

Course content

Modern-day High Energy Physics and Astroparticle experiments require extreme precision and speeds in order to observe the underlying phenomena. Particle detectors provide the information necessary to reconstruct microscopic events produced in colliders or by cosmic rays. Particle detection requires the application of many fields of physics and engineering to operate in some challenging environments while keeping high precision. This course covers:

1. Interactions of Radiation with matter. All particle detection methods rely on an initial interaction from the measured particles with the detector material. The initial part of the course discusses the types of radiation at the energy scale under study and the nature of their interaction with matter.
2. Energy Measurements & Imaging: This part will provide a thorough overview of energy measurements, ranging from spectroscopic measurements of keV x-rays to the high energy determination of TeV particles at the LHC. Energy loss mechanisms, absorption processes and basic signal processing will be explained. Scintillators and Solid State detectors will be the main point of study.
3. Charged Particle Detection & Particle Identification: Some general properties of charged particle detectors will be given. In this part of the course we will focus on gas or liquid detectors, explicitly mentioning the Cherenkov radiation.
4. Complex Observables: The observable quantities are not always directly measurable. Unstable particles or cosmic neutrinos are in fact reconstructed from the trajectory and energy of charged particles and photons measured at the detectors. This part of the course will discuss how these more complex quantities can be made observable as well as the design of a typical HEP experiment. This part is aimed at describing how the information from detectors can be linked into tracking, vertexing, momentum and stochastic energy measurements.

The course will be based on lectures and hands-on-tutorials. The tutorials will be small scale lab experiments in which the main objective is to relate the observations with detection principles or the interactions of radiation with matter. Energy loss in matter will be studied with a pixel silicon detector, calibrated with x-rays. The proportional regime of gas detectors will be assessed with a wire chamber. POSSIBLY: Time of Flight  measurements with scintillators and cosmic rays.

Note: this course can be taken independently from Particle Detection B.

Objectives

• By the end of the course the students will be able to describe the interaction of ionising particles – neutral and charged – with matter. They will be able to explain the methods and modern technologies used in particle detectors. Finally, the students will be able to determine which detection principle should be used to measure the basic characteristics of high energy particles, such as position, time of passage, momentum and energy.

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Computer lab session/practical training
• Self-study

Learning activities

Attendance

Requirements concerning attendance (OER-B).

Additional requirements for this course:

Absence needs to be communicated to the course coordinator.

Assessment

Inspection of assessed work

Contact the course coordinator to make an appointment for inspection.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Contact information

Coordinator

• prof. dr. M.P. Decowski

Lecturer: Kazu Akiba kazu.akiba@nikhef.nl