The NOMAD experiment at the CERN SPS

The NOMAD experiment is a short base-line search for $\nu_{\mu}\rightarrow \nu_{\tau}$ oscillations in the CERN neutrino beam. The $\nu_{\tau}$'s are searched for through their charged-current interactions followed by the observation of the resulting $\tau^{-}$ through its electronic, muonic or hadronic decays. These decays are recognized using kinematical criteria necessitating the use of a light target which enables the reconstruction of individual particles produced in the neutrino interactions. This paper describes the various components of the NOMAD detector: the target and muon drift chambers, the electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters, the preshower and transition radiation detectors, and the veto and trigger scintillation counters. The beam and data acquisition system are also described. The quality of the reconstruction of individual particles is demonstrated through the ability of NOMAD to observe K$^0_{\rm s}$'s, $\Lambda^0$'s and $\pi^0$'s. Finally, the observation of $\tau^{-}$ through its electronic decay being one of the most promising channels in the search, the identification of electrons in NOMAD is discussed

Energy Resolution Performance of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The energy resolution performance of the CMS lead tungstate crystal electromagnetic calorimeter is presented. Measurements were made with an electron beam using a fully equipped supermodule of the calorimeter barrel. Results are given both for electrons incident on the centre of crystals and for electrons distributed uniformly over the calorimeter surface. The electron energy is reconstructed in matrices of 3 times 3 or 5 times 5 crystals centred on the crystal containing the maximum energy. Corrections for variations in the shower containment are applied in the case of uniform incidence. The resolution measured is consistent with the design goals

Aging effects in the COMPASS hybrid GEM-Micromegas pixelized detectors

International audienceLarge-size hybrid and pixelized GEM-Micromegas gaseous detectors (40x40 cm$^2$ active area) were developed and installed in 2014 and 2015 for the COMPASS2 physics program which started at the same time. That program involved in particular two full years of Drell-Yan studies using a high-intensity pion beam on a thick polarized target. Although the detectors were placed behind a thick absorber, they were exposed to an important flux of low energy neutrons and photons. The detectors were designed to drastically reduce the discharge rate, a major issue for non-resistive Micromegas in high hadron flux, by a factor of more than 100 compared to the former ones. A hybrid solution was chosen where a pre-amplifying GEM foil is placed 2 mm above the micromesh electrode. A pixelized readout was also added in the center of the detector, where the beam is going through, in order to track particles scattered at very low angles. The combination of the hybrid structure and the pixelized central readout allowed the detector to be operated in an environment with particle flux above 10 MHz/cm$^2$ with very good detection efficiencies and spatial resolution. The performance has remained stable since 2015 in terms of gain and resolution, showing the interest of hybrid structures associating a GEM foil to a Micromegas board to protect gaseous detectors against discharges and aging effect

Energy Resolution of the Barrel of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The energy resolution of the barrel part of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter has been studied using electrons of 20 to 250 GeV in a test beam. The incident electron's energy was reconstructed by summing the energy measured in arrays of 3x3 or 5x5 channels. There was no significant amount of correlated noise observed within these arrays. For electrons incident at the centre of the studied 3x3 arrays of crystals, the mean stochastic term was measured to be 2.8% and the mean constant term to be 0.3%. The amount of the incident electron's energy which is contained within the array depends on its position of incidence. The variation of the containment with position is corrected for using the distribution of the measured energy within the array. For uniform illumination of a crystal with 120 GeV electrons a resolution of 0.5% was achieved. The energy resolution meets the design goal for the detector

Results of the first performance tests of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter

CMS ECALPerformance tests of some aspects of the CMS ECAL were carried out on modules of the "barrel" sub-system in 2002 and 2003. A brief test with high energy electron beams was made in late 2003 to validate prototypes of the new Very Front End electronics. The final versions of the monitoring and cooling systems, and of the high and low voltage regulation were used in these tests. The results are consistent with the performance targets including those for noise and overall energy resolution, required to fulfil the physics programme of CMS at the LHC

The CMS Barrel Calorimeter Response to Particle Beams from 2 to 350 GeV/c

The response of the CMS barrel calorimeter (electromagnetic plus hadronic) to hadrons, electrons and muons over a wide momentum range from 2 to 350 GeV/c has been measured. To our knowledge, this is the widest range of momenta in which any calorimeter system has been studied. These tests, carried out at the H2 beam-line at CERN, provide a wealth of information, especially at low energies. The analysis of the differences in calorimeter response to charged pions, kaons, protons and antiprotons and a detailed discussion of the underlying phenomena are presented. We also show techniques that apply corrections to the signals from the considerably different electromagnetic (EB) and hadronic (HB) barrel calorimeters in reconstructing the energies of hadrons. Above 5 GeV/c, these corrections improve the energy resolution of the combined system where the stochastic term equals 84.7$\pm$1.6$\%$ and the constant term is 7.4$\pm$0.8$\%$. The corrected mean response remains constant within 1.3$\%$ rms