Raw Data Analysis of ATLAS Backgrounds

Speaker: Michael Kruskal

When: April 6, 2012 (Fri), 01:00PM to 02:00PM (add to my calendar)
Location: PRB 365

This event is part of the Preliminary Oral Exam.

Examining Committee:  Steve Ahlen, John Butler, Ken Lane, and Richard Averitt Abstract:

Decisions about the Phase I upgrade of the LHC planned for 2018 are being made now.  One of the planned upgrades is to replace the small wheels of the muon spectrometer endcaps.  Starting from raw data collected from the MDT system, an analysis of the background environment in the small wheel region is presented in this talk.  After being thoroughly verified to be consistent with what is known about ATLAS; the neutron, proton, and muon backgrounds are analyzed.  It is shown that the only significant background in the small wheel area is from low energy muons.  In the big wheel there is a significant proton background contributing to the current level I trigger crisis, which is the primary reason for the small wheel upgrade.  With both of these results, the small wheel upgrade is necessary and sufficient to avoid a level I trigger problem at higher luminosities.