Performance of ATLAS Muon Precision Drift Chambers in a High Radiation Environment

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Performance of ATLAS Muon Precision Drift Chambers in a High Radiation Environment Die approbierte Originalversion dieser Dissertation ist an der Hauptbibliothek der Technischen Universität Wien aufgestellt (http://www.ub.tuwien.ac.at). The approved original version of this thesis is available at the main library of the Vienna University of Technology (http://www.ub.tuwien.ac.at/englweb/). Dissertation Performance of ATLAS Muon Precision Drift Chambers in a High Radiation Environment ausgeführt zum Zwecke der Erlangung des Doktorgrades der technischen Wissenschaften unter der Leitung von Ao. Univ. Prof. Dr. Christian W. Fabjan Atominstitut der Österreichischen Universitäten (E141) eingereicht an der Technischen Universität Wien Technisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät von Dipl.-Ing. Claus Cernoch Matrikelnummer: 9325777 geboren am 4. April 1974 Wulzendorfstrasse 48, A-1220 Wien Genf, am 27. August 2003 Kurzfassung ATLAS ist ein Universalexperiment für den zukünftigen Large Hadron Collider (LHC) am CERN, welches es ermöglichen wird in neue Gebiete der elementaren Physik vorzudringen. Dabei wird ein Energiebereich erschlossen, welcher weit über jenen heutiger Experimente hinausreicht. Das Müonenspektrometer des ATLAS-Detektors benötigt Präzisionsdriftkammern mit einer Gesamtfläche von 5500 m2, mit welchen die Müonenbahnen in einem Magnetfeld von ~ 0.5 T rekonstruiert werden. Etwa 370000 Driftrohre, gefüllt mit 800m3 Driftgas (Ar-CG"2 Gasmischung), bilden an die 1200 dieser Driftkammern (Monitored Drift Tubes MDT), mit welchen eine Impulsauflösung von 10 % für Müonen mit einem Transversalimpuls von pr = 1 TeV erreicht werden soll, um das volle Entdeckungspotential des LHC auszuschöpfen. Dieses ambitionierte Ziel muss selbst bei dem auftretenden Photonen- und Neutronenhintergrund erfüllt werden, welcher zu Hintergrundzählraten von bis zu 300 kHz pro Driftrohr führt. Diese Hinter- grundstrahlung bewirkt einerseits eine Verschlechterung der Detektoreigenschaften und kann andererseits Alterungsprozesse an den Elektroden hervorrufen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde zum ersten Mal ein Langzeittest einer M DT-Kammer in einer Hochratenumgebung durchgeführt, vergleichbar der im ATLAS-Betrieb. Auch die nötige Infrastruktur der Driftkammer wurde weitgehend dem Endsystem entsprechend realisiert: Eine Ausleseelektronik ähnlich der Endversion wurde zur Driftzeitdatennahme verwendet und ein Prototyp eines zirkulierenden Gassystems versorgte die Kammer. In dieser Arbeit wurde dieser hochreine Gassystemprototyp mit samt seiner Ansteuerung konzipiert, technisch realisiert und auf Stabilität und Verhalten im Dauerbetrieb getestet. Die gewonnenen Erfahrungen bestätigten die Umsetzbarkeit des Konzeptes fuer das entgültige MDT Gassystem. Weiters wurden die Auswirkungen der Gaszirkulation auf das Alterungsverhalten im Detail studiert, indem eine Hälfte der Kammer zirkulierend und die andere im Durch- fluss betrieben wurde. Im Laufe des Alterungstests wurde von den Driftrohren eine Ladung aufgenommen, welche jener entspricht, die während 4 Jahren ATLAS-Betrieb im schlimmst angenommenen Fall anfallen würden. Das Signal verhalten der Driftrohre wurde im Laufe des Langzeittests mit Refenzmessungen kosmischer Müonen verfolgt. Der Test zeigte keine Art von Alterung in den Rohren des offenen Gassytems bei der akkumulierten Strahlungsdosis. Die Driftrohre, welche vom zirkulierenden System ver- sorgt wurden, zeigten ein Sinken der Pulshöhen in den ersten ~ 30 cm der Seite des Gaseinlasses. Dieser Effekt wurde ausführlich untersucht und als Silikonpolymerisa- tion am Anodendraht identifiziert - ein Indiz dafür, dass die Alterung nicht durch das zirkulierende Driftgas selbst verursacht wurde, sondern durch Gas Verunreinigungen. Let- ztendlich wurde der Ursprung der Verunreinigung ausfindig gemacht. Die Ergebnisse dieses Tests haben einen wesentlichen Einfluß auf die Konstruktion des MDT Gassys- tems. Abstract ATLAS (A Large Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) is a general-purpose experiment for the future Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN which will offer the opportunity to explore new aspects of fundamental physics by advancing to an energy scale well beyond that achieved by current experiments. The muon spectrometer of the ATLAS detector requires an area of around 5500 m2 of precision tracking chambers, which will reconstruct the muon tracks in a magnetic field of ~ 0.5 T. Approximately 370000 high pressure drift tubes 3 (MDTS), filled with 800m drift gas (Ar-CO2 gas mixture), form about 1200 of these tracking chambers, aiming to reach a momentum resolution of 10% for muons with a transverse momentum of pr = 1 TeV, to exploit the LHC physics discovery range. This demanding performance requirement has to be fulfilled in the presence of a very high particle background of photons and neutrons leading to background counting rates of up to 300 kHz per drift tube. This background irradiation deteriorates the detector performance and may induce ageing processes on the electrodes. In the presented work for the first time a long-term study with a MDT chamber in a high-background environment, similar to the ATLAS operational environment, has been performed. Also the required infrastructure of the drift chamber was to a large extend realised according to the final system: A front-end electronics close to the final version was utilised to take drift time data and a recirculating gas prototype was supplying the chamber. Within this work the high purity gas prototype and its control system was designed, realised and tested for stability and system behaviour in permanent operation. The gained experiences certified the feasibility of the final MDT gas system. Moreover the impact of gas recirculation on the ageing behaviour of the drift chamber was studied in detail, by operating half of the chamber in recirculated and the other half in flushed gas mode. In the course of the ageing test a charge corresponding to 4 years of ATLAS operation, assuming a conservative worst-case irradiation, were accumulated by the drift tubes. The signal pulseheight spectra of the MDTS were followed up with reference measurements of cosmic muons during this long-term test. The test proved that no ageing occurred in the drift tubes of the open gas system within the accumulated irradiation dose. The drift tubes connected to the circulated gas system showed a local pulseheight drop in the first ~ 30 cm on the gas inlet side. This effect was studied intensively and found to be caused by silicone polymerisation on the anode wire - an evidence that the ageing was not caused by the drift gas and gas circulation itself, but by accumulating gas impurities. The source of the contamination was found eventually. The results of this test has a significant influence on the construction of the MDT gas system. Acknowledgements First and foremost I am very grateful for all the support and motivation from my super- visor Chris Fabjan. I would like to thank him for giving me this unique possibility of working at CERN. I want to express my gratitude to Sandro Palestini who supervised my work so patiently with his fatherly charisma. Many thanks and a great respect to Stephanie Zimmermann, from whom I learned a lot and who never would give up fighting however hopeless a state of an experiment is. I want to thank my colleagues for all their generous countless help. In particular I want to thank Axl Schricker, Cedric Petitjean, Charles Gruhn, Christoph Amelung, Ferdinand Hahn, Isabel Trigger, Ivan Lehraus, Jean-Daniel Capt, Ludovico Pontecorvo, Manuela Cirilli, Raquel Avramidou, Rolf Stampfli, Rüdiger Voss, Silvia Schuh, Stefan Haider and William Andreazza. Many thanks appertain to Christoph and Agnes who have been like a family for me here. Special thanks have to go to Bernhard for encouraging me so much and for sharing with me the first unforgettable emotions of discovering the region above 4000 m. A huge amount of thanks to Katharina for all the conversations and for persuading me to start and stop my Salsa career. A special thankyou must go to Zita for her sunshiny nature. Many thanks I owe my "Mukibuden"-friends Andy and Peter. Thanks to Walter for being such a warm-hearted neighbour. It is a pleasure to be able to thank Sophia, the best cook and sailor here around. I am very grateful to young Bernhard, for being the chief officer on our sailing trip and for his creative influence. Thanks Werner for standing my pessimism. A big "Prösterscheeees" goes to Jan with whom I discovered bravely the night life of Geneva. I'm very grateful to Adrian, who influenced strongly my decision to come to CERN and who managed a flat for me already before I was arriving. I never will forget the impressing, honest moments in the mountains with Thomas, who gave me an idea what being a real mountaineer means. Thanks also for your uncomplicated straightforwardness. I am very glad for being part of the high-class CERN volleyball team. A special thankyou has to go here to our coach Jan. A huge "Thank You" to my friends in Vienna - Tomek, Georg, Hoffi, Hanna, Wolfi, Blacko, Alex, Andy, Emi ... - for not forgetting me and for spending the short but intense moments with me at home or on common holidays. Vielen Dank Wolfi, Dich als einzigartigen Mensch und Freund kennengelernt zu haben - Dein Geist, Deine Ideen, Dein Stil, Dein Humor werden mir immer unvergesslich bleiben. Nicht zuletzt möchte ich mich bei meiner Familie herzlich für den Rückhalt bedanken, den sie mir während meiner gesamten Ausbildung so selbstlos schenkten und welcher mir erst dieses erfüllte Leben ermöglichte. Meinen Eltern in Dankbarkeit gewidmet Contents
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