Development of the CEPC analog hadron calorimeter prototype

TL;DR

This paper reports the development and testing of a prototype analog hadron calorimeter for the CEPC, aiming to validate its design and performance for precise Higgs boson measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 40-layer AHCAL prototype with steel and scintillator tiles, and demonstrates its readiness through electronic, cosmic ray, and beam tests.

Findings

Prototype successfully tested with electronic and cosmic ray data

Beam tests underway to analyze hadron shower performance

Results will inform CEPC detector design improvements

Abstract

The Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) is a next-generation electron$-$positron collider proposed for the precise measurement of the properties of the Higgs boson. To emphasize boson separation and jet reconstruction, the baseline design of the CEPC detector was guided by the particle flow algorithm (PFA) concept. As one of the calorimeter options, the analogue hadron calorimeter (AHCAL) was proposed. The CEPC AHCAL comprises a 40-layer sandwich structure using steel plates as absorbers and scintillator tiles coupled with silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) as sensitive units. To validate the feasibility of the AHCAL option, a series of studies were conducted to develop a prototype. This AHCAL prototype underwent an electronic test and a cosmic ray test to assess its performance and ensure it was ready for three beam tests performed in 2022 and 2023. The test beam data is currently under analysis, and the results are expected to deepen our understanding of hadron showers, validate the concept of Particle Flow Algorithm (PFA), and ultimately refine the design of the CEPC detector.