Development of Radiation Hard Zero Degree Calorimeters for the Large Hadron Collider
Abstract: Heavy Ion Collisions at LHC are used to explore the Physics of the Quark Gluon Plasma. A complete analysis of the final state observed in ion collisions requires knowledge of the collision geometry: impact parameter and the orientation of the collision plane. For this purpose the ATLAS experiment uses a pair of Zero Degree Calorimeters (ZDCs) and Reaction Plane Detectors (RPDs). These detectors are located in the LHC tunnel, about 140 m from the collision point and detect neutrons emitted from the nuclear remnants, spectators, not directly particpating in the nuclear collision. The principal challenges for the ZDCs and RPDs are the high radiation levels in the LHC tunnel and the limited space available for the detectors. The colloquium will briefly introduce the Physics motivation and then discuss the development of new ZDCs and RPDs for ATLAS at UIUC for the current LHC high luminosity operations: run-3. The colloquium will end with a discussion of the R&D program for the future run-4 detectors.
Bio: Dr. Matthias Grosse Perdekamp is a nuclear physicist at the University of Illinois. He serves as head of the Department of Physics and on the core faculty of the Program for Arms Control and Domestic and International Security, ACDIS. He explores the Physics of nuclear forces and the structure of the fundamental building blocks of nuclear matter through accelerator-based experiments at European Laboratory for Nuclear and Particle Physics, CERN, in Geneva Switzerland. His laboratory is developing advanced instrumentation for the detection of ionizing radiation. He teaches a longstanding course on Nuclear War and Arms Control as part of the ACDIS security certificate for undergraduate students at UIUC.