Radiation environment and shielding for a high luminosity collider detector

Abstract

Detectors now under design for use in the proposed high energy high luminosity colliders must deal with unprecedented radiation levels. We have performed a comprehensive study for the GEM detector at the SSC to determine the best way to shield critical detector components from excessive radiation, with special attention paid to the low energy neutrons and photons. We have used several detailed Monte-Carlo simulations to calculate the particle fluxes in the detector. We describe these methods and demonstrate that two orders of magnitude reduction in the neutron and photon fluxes can be obtained with appropriate shielding of critical forward regions such as the low beta quadrupoles and the forward calorimeter