The Time Structure of Hadronic Showers in highly granular Calorimeters with Tungsten and Steel Absorbers

TL;DR

This study investigates the timing characteristics of hadronic showers in highly granular calorimeters with tungsten and steel absorbers, using experimental data and simulations to improve understanding of their time structure.

Contribution

It provides high-resolution measurements of hadronic shower time structure in tungsten and steel absorbers and compares these with GEANT4 simulations, highlighting the importance of low-energy neutron modeling.

Findings

High precision neutron treatment is crucial for tungsten absorber simulations.

Good overall agreement between data and simulations for steel absorbers.

Timing information can enhance calorimeter performance in particle physics experiments.

Abstract

The intrinsic time structure of hadronic showers influences the timing capability and the required integration time of hadronic calorimeters in particle physics experiments, and depends on the active medium and on the absorber of the calorimeter. With the CALICE T3B experiment, a setup of 15 small plastic scintillator tiles read out with Silicon Photomultipliers, the time structure of showers is measured on a statistical basis with high spatial and temporal resolution in sampling calorimeters with tungsten and steel absorbers. The results are compared to GEANT4 (version 9.4 patch 03) simulations with different hadronic physics models. These comparisons demonstrate the importance of using high precision treatment of low-energy neutrons for tungsten absorbers, while an overall good agreement between data and simulations for all considered models is observed for steel.