The MRPC-based ALICE Time-Of-Flight detector: status and performance

TL;DR

This paper reports on the status and performance of the ALICE Time-Of-Flight detector, which uses MRPC technology to achieve high precision particle identification in high-energy collisions at the LHC.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the design, implementation, and operational performance of the large MRPC-based TOF detector in the ALICE experiment.

Findings

Achieved time resolution better than 50 ps

High detection efficiency close to 100%

Successful operation since 2009 in pp and Pb--Pb collisions

Abstract

The large Time-Of-Flight (TOF) array is one of the main detectors devoted to charged hadron identification in the mid-rapidity region of the ALICE experiment at the LHC. It allows separation among pions, kaons and protons up to a few GeV/c, covering the full azimuthal angle and -0.9 < eta < 0.9. The TOF exploits the innovative MRPC technology capable of an intrinsic time resolution better than 50 ps with an efficiency close to 100% and a large operational plateau; the full array consists of 1593 MRPCs covering a cylindrical surface of 141 m2. The TOF detector has been efficiently taking data since the first pp collisions recorded in ALICE in December 2009. In this report, the status of the TOF detector and the performance achieved for both pp and Pb--Pb collisions are described.