Theses (Hardware)
Microscopic simulation of modern gaseous detectors
Performance studies of GEM detectors
Construction of a reference detector for quality control of scintillator trigger modules
Modern Muon Detectors
Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) is the most modern gas detector technology available. Its flexibility and durability permit applications from high energy physics experiments to medical instrumentation. The innovative detection principle opens a new era in detector physics and offers virtually unlimited opportunities for discoveries.
The DT muon chambers of the CMS experiment will receive completely renewed, FPGA-based signal processing electronics for the high-luminosity phase of the LHC. It will also be tested in our cosmic muon detector test stand.
Microscopic simulation of modern gaseous detectors
To have a better understanding of the results coming from the experiments, the simulations of such underlying physical processes are essential. The goal of the thesis is to simulate signal propagation in GEM chambers on a microscopic scale using the GARFIELD environment.
Contact: Kerstin Hoepfner (26A 204), Francesco Ivone (28A 220)
Performance studies of GEM detectors
The GEM chambers installed in CMS recorded data for the first time in summer 2022. It is critical to analyze this data to confirm that: the GEM system is operating at an optimal level and in a stable way over time, and to study the performance and characteristics of the GEM chambers. These can be done by measuring or analyzing various quantities such as the muon hit multiplicity, transverse momentum and chamber efficiency. Application of machine learning for some studies is possible. This thesis is a performance study coinciding with the start of LHC proton-proton collisions in April and initial 2023 data will be analyzed and requires programming proficiency.
Based on GEM detector simulation results, a wide range of parameters are measured using prototype large-scale GEM chambers. This allows for calculating important quantities such as the efficiency and the chamber gain for characterizing the GEM chambers, critical to understanding how the chambers would behave in the CMS muon system. Characterization measurements, such as determining how the chamber gain performs versus particle incidence rate, will be performed. This work will make use of state-of-the-art equipment, e.g. Picoammeters and Picoscope, and automate the data acquisition using PYTHON. This topic is a detector performance study focusing on detector hardware.
Contact: Shawn Zaleski (28A 220), Kerstin Hoepfner (26A 204), Francesco Ivone (28A 220)
Commissioning of a reference detector for quality control of scintillator trigger modules
Our test stand for the investigation of detectors for the measurement of cosmic muons is to be extended by several layers with scintillator tiles as trigger detectors. For quality control of these tiles, a reference detector was built from scintillator strips read out by silicon photomutipliers (SiPM). This reference detector will later be used to reconstruct tracks of cosmic muons. This is to determine, where these muons passed through the scintillator tiles under investigation and whether a signal was reliably generated in the process. In the context of the bachelor thesis, the reference detector will be put into operation for first test measurements, in cooperation with the workshops of our institute. Helpful prerequisites for the execution of the bachelor thesis are e.g. interest in detector physics, basic knowledge of electronics and programming, some experience with RaspberryPi or Arduino as well as some experience with Linux and Python.
Contact: Dmitry Eliseev (Ha 110), Markus Merschmeyer (26A 203)