Collaborative Research: Development of a Particle Tracking System for the Qweak Experiment

The intermediate-energy nuclear physics group at Louisiana Tech consists of four faculty members: Tony Forest, Kathleen Johnston, Neven Simicevic and Steve Wells. As part of its commitment to the Qweak experiment in Hall C at Jefferson Lab, the group will construct the Region 1 component to the particle tracking system. The Region 1 detector will utilize gas electron multiplication as a preamplifier to the ionization chamber signal, which facilitates a measurement of the elastically scattered electron's position with respect to the face of the chamber. Based on the performance of these chambers in the COMPASS experiment, the devices should be well suited to the lower rates expected during the calibration runs for the Qweak experiment. Two chambers will be constructed, based on the COMPASS design, which will be less that half the surface area as the original 30cm x 30cm COMPASS chambers. We will use similar multiplexing electronics to read out the chambers. The AS-7 Helix chip boards are presently being tested with our prototype ionization chamber. Graduate student Jena Kraft will base her thesis on the design, construction, and performance evaluation of the region 1 tracking system. Two undergraduates, Justin Beam and Jeremy Dobbins, will gain experience instrumenting and testing the prototype detector this summer. We anticipate a similar number of undergraduates will be involved over the course of the project.