The ALICE HMPID detector ready for collisions at the LHC

TL;DR

The paper details the readiness and commissioning of the ALICE HMPID detector, designed for particle identification in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC, including its design, subsystems, and initial performance results.

Contribution

It presents the design, construction, and first commissioning results of the ALICE HMPID detector for heavy-ion collision studies at the LHC.

Findings

Detector components and subsystems described

Successful installation and commissioning achieved

Ready for collision data collection

Abstract

ALICE has been specifically optimized to study heavy-ion collisions at the LHC, up to a charged particle density of 8000 per unit of rapidity in central heavy-ion collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.5 TeV. The High Momentum Particle Identification Detector (HMPID) has a proximity focusing geometry with a liquid $\rm C_{6}F_{14}$ Cherenkov radiator coupled to Multi-Wire Pad Chambers (MWPC) equipped with CsI photocathodes, over a total active area of 11 $\rm m^2$. It has been designed to identify charged pions and kaons in the range 1 $\leq p \leq$ 3 \GeV/$c$ and protons in the range 2 $\leq p \leq$ 5 \GeV/$c$. The as-built detector and all relevant subsystems (gas, liquid $\rm C_{6}F_{14}$, cooling and control) are described. Installation issues and first commissioning results are also presented.