ATLAS data quality operations and performance for 2015-2018 data-taking

TL;DR

This paper details ATLAS's data quality monitoring procedures during 2015-2018, highlighting how continuous improvements ensured over 95% of proton-proton collision data was suitable for physics analysis.

Contribution

It presents the data quality operations and performance metrics of ATLAS during 2015-2018, demonstrating effective procedures for ensuring data integrity in high-energy physics experiments.

Findings

Achieved 95.6% data certification rate for physics analysis.

Implemented monitoring procedures that promptly identify hardware/software issues.

Continuous operational improvements enhanced data quality efficiency.

Abstract

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider reads out particle collision data from over 100 million electronic channels at a rate of approximately $100$ kHz, with a recording rate for physics events of approximately 1 kHz. Before being certified for physics analysis at computer centres worldwide, the data must be scrutinised to ensure they are clean from any hardware or software related issues that may compromise their integrity. Prompt identification of these issues permits fast action to investigate, correct and potentially prevent future such problems that could render the data unusable. This is achieved through the monitoring of detector-level quantities and reconstructed collision event characteristics at key stages of the data processing chain. This paper presents the monitoring and assessment procedures in place at ATLAS during 2015-2018 data-taking. Through the continuous improvement of operational procedures, ATLAS achieved a high data quality efficiency, with 95.6% of the recorded proton-proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV certified for physics analysis.