The inner detector is the first device to record the decay products of the proton-proton collisions. It measures the direction, the momentum and the charge of electrically charged particles that are produced when protons collide.
The inner detector consists of, from the inside to the outside, three systems:
Silicon pixel detector
Silicon strip detector
Transition radiation tracker
The inner detector measures the trajectories of the charged particles which are produced in the proton collisions. It can measure the particle trajectories with an accuracy of a few micrometers (one thousandth of a millimeter). The curvature of the path taken by the charged particles in the magnetic field of the detector can be used to determine their momentum and thus their energy as well.
Current research is focusing on the development of new pixel detectors that are to be used at ATLAS in the next upgrade of the LHC accelerator.
Assembling the Inner Detector (photo: CERN)
Current research
New innermost layer of the silicon pixel detector
Insertable B-Layer (Photo: ATLAS/CERN)
The Insertable B-Layer (IBL for short) is the first upgrade of the Inner Detector: a new, fourth pixel detector layer which is mounted on a new, smaller diameter beam pipe.
Compared to the original pixel detector layers, the IBL pixel modules have more segments, improved radiation hardness, and are closer to the interaction zone of the proton beams. This ensures that the track reconstruction is sufficiently accurate even above and beyond the track density originally planned until the complete Inner Detector is replaced around 2025.
The MPP group contributed to several steps that were crucial to the realization of the IBL project. These included the testing of electrical components, and the production and installation of mechanical components for the novel CO2 cooling system.
Replacement of the inner detector
Around 2025, the LHC accelerator will be upgraded to allow a much higher collision rate. The plan is to replace the complete Inner Detector at the same time. In order to fulfill the demands that will then have to be met, the MPP group is developing special sensors and investigating novel connection technologies between sensors and read-out chips. The group is working in close collaboration with the Semiconductor Laboratory of the Max Planck Society, universities, the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Microsystems and Solid State Technologies, and semiconductor companies to manufacture, intensively test and further develop prototypes.
Measurement of the top quark mass in the tt¯→dilepton channel from s√=8 TeV ATLAS data ATLAS Collaboration (Morad Aaboud (Oujda U.) et al.). Jun 7, 2016. 22 pp. Published in Phys.Lett. B761 (2016) 350-371 DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2016.08.042 e-Print: arXiv:1606.02179 [hep-ex] Cited by 12 records
Measurement of the top quark mass in the tt¯→ lepton+jets and tt¯→ dilepton channels using s√= TeV ATLAS data ATLAS Collaboration (Georges Aad (Marseille, CPPM) et al.). Mar 18, 2015. 35 pp. Eur.Phys.J. C75 (2015) no.7, 330 CERN-PH-EP-2015-050 arXiv:1503.05427 DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-015-3544-0 Cited by 29 records
On the combination of correlated estimates of a physics observable Richard Nisius, Feb 17, 2014. 20 pp. Published in Eur.Phys.J. C74 (2014) no.8, 3004 arXiv:1402.4016 [physics.data-an] DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-3004-2
First combination of Tevatron and LHC measurements of the top-quark mass ATLAS and CDF and CMS and D0 Collaborations, Mar 18, 2014. 34 pp. ATLAS-CONF-2014-008, CDF-NOTE-11071, CMS-PAS-TOP-13-014, D0-NOTE-6416, FERMILAB-TM-2582-E arXiv:1403.4427 [hep-ex] Detailed record - Cited by 353 records TopCite
Production and characterisation of SLID interconnected n-in-p pixel modules with 75 μm thin silicon sensors L. Andricek, M. Beimforde, A. Macchiolo, H.-G. Moser, R. Nisius, R.H. Richter, S. Terzo, P. Weigell, Oct 22, 2013, 14 pp. Nucl.Instrum.Meth. A758 (2014) 30-43 arXiv:1310.5854 [physics.ins-det] DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2014.05.046
