Performance of the CREAM calorimeter in accelerator beam test

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the performance of the CREAM calorimeter using CERN SPS accelerator beams, focusing on calibration with electrons and testing its simulation model for cosmic-ray measurements.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed performance analysis of the CREAM calorimeter in accelerator tests, validating its design for cosmic-ray spectrum measurements.

Findings

Calorimeter achieved accurate calibration with 150 GeV electrons.

Simulation results closely matched experimental data.

Demonstrated suitability for high-energy cosmic-ray detection.

Abstract

The CREAM calorimeter, designed to measure the spectra of cosmic-ray nuclei from under 1 TeV to 1000 TeV, is a 20 radiation length (X0) deep sampling calorimeter. The calorimeter is comprised of 20 layers of tungsten interleaved with 20 layers of scintillating fiber ribbons, and is preceded by a pair of graphite interaction targets providing about 0.42 proton interaction lengths (\lambda int). The calorimeter was placed in one of CERN's SPS accelerator beams for calibration and testing. Beams of 150 GeV electrons were used for calibration, and a variety of electron, proton, and nuclear fragment beams were used to test the simulation model of the detector. In this paper we discuss the performance of the calorimeter in the electron beam and compare electron beam data with simulation results.