arXiv subjects

J. Kvasnicka

Publications and source records attributed to J. Kvasnicka.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Gamma irradiation of ATLAS18 ITk strip sensors affected by static charge

Construction of the new all-silicon ITk, developed by the ATLAS collaboration to be able to track charged particles produced at the HL- LHC, started in 2021 and is expected to continue until 2028. The ITk detector will include ~18,000 highly segmented and radiation hard n+-in-p silicon strip sensors, which are being manufactured by HPK. Upon their delivery, the ATLAS ITk strip sensor collaboration performs detailed measurements of sensors to monitor quality of all fabricated pieces. QC electrical tests include IV and CV tests, full strip tests, and a measurement of the long-term stability of the sensor leakage current. While most sensors demonstrate excellent performance during QC testing, we have nevertheless observed that a number of sensors from several production batches failed the electrical tests. Accumulated data indicates a strong correlation between observed electrical test failures and high electrostatic charge measured on the sensor surface during initial reception tests. This electrostatic charge enhances the risk of "Local trapped charge" events during manufacturing, shipping, and handling procedures, resulting in failed electrical QC tests. In the presented study, we have investigated whether the TID expected in the real experiment can effectively resolve early breakdown or low interstrip isolation caused by the electrostatic charge. Selected charge-affected sensors were irradiated with gamma rays from a 60Co source for a number of TID values. The results of this study indicate that the negative effects of the electrostatic charge on the critical sensors characteristics disappear after a very small amount of an accumulated TID, which actually corresponds to one or two days in the experiment. This finding gives us confidence in mitigating the issue of electrostatic charge during the operation of the ITk strip sensors in the real experiment.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2026

The study of gamma-radiation induced displacement damage in $n^+$-in-$p$ silicon diodes

The bulk damage of $p$-type silicon sensors caused by gamma irradiation with high total ionizing doses has been investigated. The study was carried out on different types of $n^+$-in-$p$ silicon diodes with different oxygen concentrations and silicon bulk resistivities. The Secondary-Ion Mass Spectrometry technique was used to determine the relative concentration of oxygen in the individual samples. The measured diodes were irradiated by a $^{60}$Co gamma source to total ionizing doses ranging from 0.50 up to 8.28 MGy, and annealed for 80 minutes at 60{\deg}C. The main goal of the study was to characterize the gamma-radiation induced displacement damage by measuring IV and CV characteristics, and the evolution of the full depletion voltage with the total ionizing dose. The Transient Current Technique was used to verify the full depletion voltage and to extract the electric field distribution and the sign of the space charge in the silicon diodes irradiated to the lowest and the highest delivered total ionizing doses. The results show a linear increase of the bulk leakage current with the total ionizing dose, with the damage coefficient being dependent on initial resistivity and oxygen concentration of the silicon diode. The effective doping concentration and full depletion voltage decrease significantly with an increasing total ionizing dose, before starting to increase again at a specific dose. We assume that the initial decrease in the effective doping concentration is caused by the effect of acceptor removal. An additional notable finding of this study is that the bulk leakage current and CV characteristics of the gamma-irradiated diodes do not show any evidence of an annealing effect.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2026

An investigation of fast simulation techniques for pion showers using kernel density estimators with the CALICE AHCAL Technological Prototype

In this article, the development and investigation of fast hadron shower simulation methods is presented. A test beam dataset has been recorded in 2018 at CERN with the AHCAL Technological Prototype of the CALICE Collaboration, where the calorimeter prototype was exposed to electron, muon, and negatively charged pion beams of various initial energies. The pion shower dataset, covering energies between 10 GeV and 200 GeV, has been used to develop a data-driven fast simulation algorithm of the AHCAL response to pion showers. The resulting shower model demonstrates excellent agreement with measured shower observables. In addition, a method for simulating pion showers at arbitrary energies is introduced, based upon interpolation between simulated showers at neighbouring beam energies.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Shower Separation in Five Dimensions for Highly Granular Calorimeters using Machine Learning

To achieve state-of-the-art jet energy resolution for Particle Flow, sophisticated energy clustering algorithms must be developed that can fully exploit available information to separate energy deposits from charged and neutral particles. Three published neural network-based shower separation models were applied to simulation and experimental data to measure the performance of the highly granular CALICE Analogue Hadronic Calorimeter (AHCAL) technological prototype in distinguishing the energy deposited by a single charged and single neutral hadron for Particle Flow. The performance of models trained using only standard spatial and energy and charged track position information from an event was compared to models trained using timing information available from AHCAL, which is expected to improve sensitivity to shower development and, therefore, aid in clustering. Both simulation and experimental data were used to train and test the models and their performances were compared. The best-performing neural network achieved significantly superior event reconstruction when timing information was utilised in training for the case where the charged hadron had more energy than the neutral one, motivating temporally sensitive calorimeters. All models under test were observed to tend to allocate energy deposited by the more energetic of the two showers to the less energetic one. Similar shower reconstruction performance was observed for a model trained on simulation and applied to data and a model trained and applied to data.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Software Compensation for Highly Granular Calorimeters using Machine Learning

A neural network for software compensation was developed for the highly granular CALICE Analogue Hadronic Calorimeter (AHCAL). The neural network uses spatial and temporal event information from the AHCAL and energy information, which is expected to improve sensitivity to shower development and the neutron fraction of the hadron shower. The neural network method produced a depth-dependent energy weighting and a time-dependent threshold for enhancing energy deposits consistent with the timescale of evaporation neutrons. Additionally, it was observed to learn an energy-weighting indicative of longitudinal leakage correction. In addition, the method produced a linear detector response and outperformed a published control method regarding resolution for every particle energy studied.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2023

Study of Bulk Damage of High Dose Gamma Irradiated p-type Silicon Diodes with Various Resistivities

The bulk damage of p-type silicon detectors caused by high doses of gamma irradiation has been studied. The study was carried out on three types of n$^{+}$-in-p silicon diodes with comparable geometries but different initial resistivities. This allowed to determine how different initial parameters of studied samples influence radiation-induced changes in the measured characteristics. The diodes were irradiated by a Cobalt-60 gamma source to total ionizing doses ranging from 0.50 up to 8.28 MGy, and annealed for 80 minutes at 60 {\deg}C. The Geant4 toolkit for simulation of the passage of particles through matter was used to simulate the deposited energy homogeneity, to verify the equal distribution of total deposited energies through all the layers of irradiated samples, and to calculate the secondary electron spectra in the irradiation box. The main goal of the study was to characterize the gamma-radiation induced displacement damage by measuring current-voltage characteristics (IV), and the evolution of the full depletion voltage with the total ionizing dose, by measuring capacitance-voltage characteristics (CV). It has been observed that the bulk leakage current increases linearly with total ionizing dose, and the damage coefficient depends on the initial resistivity of the silicon diode. The effective doping concentration and therefore full depletion voltage significantly decreases with increasing total ionizing dose, before starting to increase again at a specific dose. We assume that this decrease is caused by the effect of acceptor removal. Another noteworthy observation of this study is that the IV and CV measurements of the gamma irradiated diodes do not reveal any annealing effect.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Energy reconstruction of hadronic showers at the CERN PS and SPS using the Semi-Digital Hadronic Calorimeter

The CALICE Semi-Digital Hadronic CALorimeter (SDHCAL) is the first technological prototype in a family of high-granularity calorimeters developed by the CALICE Collaboration to equip the experiments of future lepton colliders. The SDHCAL is a sampling calorimeter using stainless steel for absorber and Glass Resistive Plate Chambers (GRPC) as a sensitive medium. The GRPC are read out by 1~cm $\times$ 1~cm pickup pads combined to a multi-threshold electronics. The prototype was exposed to hadron beams in both the CERN PS and the SPS beamlines in 2015 allowing the test of the SDHCAL in a large energy range from 3~GeV to 80~GeV. After introducing the method used to select the hadrons of our data and reject the muon and electron contamination, we present the energy reconstruction approach that we apply to the data collected from both beamlines and we discuss the response linearity and the energy resolution of the SDHCAL. The results obtained in the two beamlines confirm the excellent SDHCAL performance observed with the data collected with the same prototype in the SPS beamline in 2012. They also show the stability of the SDHCAL in different beam conditions and different time periods.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2020

Particle Identification Using Boosted Decision Trees in the Semi-Digital Hadronic Calorimeter Prototype

The CALICE Semi-Digital Hadronic CALorimeter (SDHCAL) prototype using Glass Resistive Plate Chambers as a sensitive medium is the first technological prototype of a family of high-granularity calorimeters developed by the CALICE collaboration to equip the experiments of future leptonic colliders. It was exposed to beams of hadrons, electrons and muons several times in the CERN PS and SPS beamlines between 2012 and 2018. We present here a new method of particle identification within the SDHCAL using the Boosted Decision Trees (BDT) method applied to the data collected in 2015. The performance of the method is tested first with Geant4-based simulated events and then on the data collected by the SDHCAL in the energy range between 10 and 80~GeV with 10~GeV energy steps. The BDT method is then used to reject the electrons and muons that contaminate the SPS hadron beams.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

EUDAQ $-$ A Data Acquisition Software Framework for Common Beam Telescopes

EUDAQ is a generic data acquisition software developed for use in conjunction with common beam telescopes at charged particle beam lines. Providing high-precision reference tracks for performance studies of new sensors, beam telescopes are essential for the research and development towards future detectors for high-energy physics. As beam time is a highly limited resource, EUDAQ has been designed with reliability and ease-of-use in mind. It enables flexible integration of different independent devices under test via their specific data acquisition systems into a top-level framework. EUDAQ controls all components globally, handles the data flow centrally and synchronises and records the data streams. Over the past decade, EUDAQ has been deployed as part of a wide range of successful test beam campaigns and detector development applications.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Characterisation of different stages of hadronic showers using the CALICE Si-W ECAL physics prototype

A detailed investigation of hadronic interactions is performed using $π^-$-mesons with energies in the range 2--10 GeV incident on a high granularity silicon-tungsten electromagnetic calorimeter. The data were recorded at FNAL in 2008. The region in which the $π^-$-mesons interact with the detector material and the produced secondary particles are characterised using a novel track-finding algorithm that reconstructs tracks within hadronic showers in a calorimeter in the absence of a magnetic field. The principle of carrying out detector monitoring and calibration using secondary tracks is also demonstrated.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

EUDAQ2 -- A Flexible Data Acquisition Software Framework for Common Test Beams

The data acquisition software framework, EUDAQ, was originally developed to read out data from the EUDET-type pixel telescopes. This was successfully used in many test beam campaigns in which an external position and time reference were required. The software has recently undergone a significant upgrade, EUDAQ2, which is a generic, modern and modular system for use by many different detector types, ranging from tracking detectors to calorimeters. EUDAQ2 is suited as an overarching software that links individual detector readout systems and simplifies the integration of multiple detectors. The framework itself supports several triggering and event building modes. This flexibility makes test beams with multiple detectors significantly easier and more efficient, as EUDAQ2 can adapt to the characteristics of each detector prototype during testing. The system has been thoroughly tested during multiple test beams involving different detector prototypes. EUDAQ2 has now been released and is freely available under an open-source license.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Gain Stabilization of SiPMs with an Adaptive Power Supply

The gain of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) increases with bias voltage and decreases with temperature. To operate SiPMs at stable gain, the bias voltage can be readjusted to compensate for temperature changes. We have tested this concept with 30 SiPMs from three manufacturers (Hamamatsu, KETEK and CPTA) operating in a climate chamber at CERN by varying temperatures between $1^\circ \rm C$ and $48^\circ \rm C$. We built an adaptive power supply that uses a linear dependence of the bias voltage on temperature. We stabilized four SiPMs simultaneously with only one compensation parameter for the readjustment of the bias voltage of four SiPMs. For all tested Hamamatsu and CPTA SiPMs we achieved our goal of limiting gain changes to less than $\pm 0.5\%$ in the $20-30^\circ C$ temperature range.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Analysis of Testbeam Data of the Highly Granular RPC-Steel CALICE Digital Hadron Calorimeter and Validation of Geant4 Monte Carlo Models

We present a study of the response of the highly granular Digital Hadronic Calorimeter with steel absorbers, the Fe-DHCAL, to positrons, muons, and pions with momenta ranging from 2 to 60 GeV/c. Developed in the context of the CALICE collaboration, this hadron calorimeter utilises Resistive Plate Chambers as active media, interspersed with steel absorber plates. With a transverse granularity of $1\,\times\,1\,$cm$^{2}$ and a longitudinal segmentation of 38 layers, the calorimeter counted 350,208 readout channels, each read out with single-bit resolution (digital readout). The data were recorded in the Fermilab test beam in 2010-11. The analysis includes measurements of the calorimeter response and the energy resolution to positrons and muons, as well as detailed studies of various shower shape quantities. The results are compared to simulations based on Geant4, which utilise different electromagnetic and hadronic physics lists.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Hadronic Energy Resolution of a Combined High Granularity Scintillator Calorimeter System

This paper presents results obtained with the combined CALICE Scintillator Electromagnetic Calorimeter, Analogue Hadronic Calorimeter and Tail Catcher & Muon Tracker, three high granularity scintillator-SiPM calorimeter prototypes. The response of the system to pions with momenta between 4 GeV/c and 32 GeV/c is analysed, including the energy response, resolution, and longitudinal shower profiles. The results of a software compensation technique based on weighting according to hit energy are compared to those of a standard linear energy reconstruction. The results are compared to predictions of the GEANT4 physics lists QGSP_BERT_HP and FTFP_BERT_HP.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Construction and Response of a Highly Granular Scintillator-based Electromagnetic Calorimeter

A highly granular electromagnetic calorimeter with scintillator strip readout is being developed for future lepton collider experiments. A prototype of 21.5 $X_0$ depth and $180 \times 180 $mm$^2$ transverse dimensions was constructed, consisting of 2160 individually read out $10 \times 45 \times 3$ mm$^3$ scintillator strips. This prototype was tested using electrons of 2--32 GeV at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility in 2009. Deviations from linear energy response were less than 1.1\%, and the intrinsic energy resolution was determined to be $(12.5 \pm 0.1 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm0.4 (\mathrm{syst.}))\%/\sqrt{E[\mathrm{GeV}]}\oplus (1.2 \pm 0.1(\mathrm{stat.})^{+0.6}_{-0.7}(\mathrm{syst.}))\%$, where the uncertainties correspond to statistical and systematic sources, respectively.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Resistive Plate Chamber Digitization in a Hadronic Shower Environment

The CALICE Semi-Digital Hadron Calorimeter (SDHCAL) technological prototype is a sampling calorimeter using Glass Resistive Plate Chamber detectors with a three-threshold readout as the active medium. This technology is one of the two options proposed for the hadron calorimeter of the International Large Detector for the International Linear Collider. The prototype was exposed to beams of muons, electrons and pions of different energies at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. To be able to study the performance of such a calorimeter in future experiments it is important to ensure reliable simulation of its response. In this paper we present our prototype simulation performed with GEANT4 and the digitization procedure achieved with an algorithm called SimDigital. A detailed description of this algorithm is given and the methods to determinate its parameters using muon tracks and electromagnetic showers are explained. The comparison with hadronic shower data shows a good agreement up to 50 GeV. Discrepancies are observed at higher energies. The reasons for these differences are investigated.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

First results of the CALICE SDHCAL technological prototype

The CALICE Semi-Digital Hadronic Calorimeter (SDHCAL) prototype, built in 2011, was exposed to beams of hadrons, electrons and muons in two short periods in 2012 on two different beam lines of the CERN SPS. The prototype with its 48 active layers, made of Glass Resistive Plate Chambers and their embedded readout electronics, was run in triggerless and power-pulsing mode. The performance of the SDHCAL during the test beam was found to be very satisfactory with an efficiency exceeding 90% for almost all of the 48 active layers. A linear response (within 5%) and a good energy resolution are obtained for a large range of hadronic energies (5-80GeV) by applying appropriate calibration coefficients to the collected data for both the Digital (Binary) and the Semi-Digital (Multi-threshold) modes of the SDHCAL prototype. The Semi-Digital mode shows better performance at energies exceeding 30GeV

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Hadron shower decomposition in the highly granular CALICE analogue hadron calorimeter

The spatial development of hadronic showers in the CALICE scintillator-steel analogue hadron calorimeter is studied using test beam data collected at CERN and FNAL for single positive pions and protons with initial momenta in the range from 10 to 80 GeV/c. Both longitudinal and radial development of hadron showers are parametrised with two-component functions. The parametrisation is fit to test beam data and simulations using the QGSP_BERT and FTFP_BERT physics lists from Geant4 version 9.6. The parameters extracted from data and simulated samples are compared for the two types of hadrons. The response to pions and the ratio of the non-electromagnetic to the electromagnetic calorimeter response, h/e, are estimated using the extrapolation and decomposition of the longitudinal profiles.

physics.ins-det↗