Energy-Loss Particle Identification in 2-D Silicon Drift Detectors

摘要

A relatively new type of transducer known as the Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) has been fabricated onto thin silicon wafers. SDD operates like a miniature, high-resolution, 2-D Time-projection chamber. One of these devices can detect two dimensions of an ionizing particle's position, and its integrated electrical charge output level is proportional to the particle's energy loss through the silicon. An array of SDD's, arranged in three coaxial cylinders, is being considered as part of an instrument surrounding the beam pipe of highly-relativistic colliding beam facility, where it would be used to simultaneously track individual paths of thousands of charged particles emerging from each primary collision. Energy-loss data from the (x,y) pixels of each track allow individual particle identification as an electron, pion, kaon or proton. CERN's Monte Carlo modeling program, GEANT, is being used to predict energy loss at high statistical accuracy to account for high-energy tailing of the more prevalent pions. GEANT has been installed on a Linux workstation in Little Rock. Speeding up the modeling process is being investigated using parallel virtual memory techniques and groupings of Linux workstations.