ALICE ITS upgrade for LHC Run 3: commissioning in the laboratory

TL;DR

The ALICE experiment at CERN has upgraded its Inner Tracking System with CMOS MAPS technology to enhance heavy-ion collision studies, with commissioning completed and integration underway for LHC Run 3.

Contribution

This paper reports on the design, installation, and commissioning of a new silicon-based ITS using CMOS MAPS for improved physics capabilities.

Findings

Installation of the new detector is complete

Commissioning is in progress, nearing final integration

Enhanced reconstruction of rare physics channels expected

Abstract

ALICE is the CERN LHC experiment optimised for the study of the strongly interacting matter produced in heavy-ion collisions and devoted to the characterisation of the quark-gluon plasma. To achieve the physics program for LHC Run 3, a major upgrade of the experimental apparatus is ongoing. A key element of the upgrade is the substitution of the Inner Tracking System (ITS) with a completely new silicon-based detector whose features will allow the reconstruction of rare physics channels, not accessible with the previous layout. The enabling technology for such a performance boost is the adoption of custom-designed CMOS MAPS as detecting elements. The installation of the detector in the ALICE cavern is completed and few months of commissioning will allow the final integration into the central systems. In this talk, an overview of the adopted technologies as well as the status of the detector commissioning will be given.