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Particle Flow Algorithm Performance Studies for the SiD at the International Linear Collider

Nuclear and Particle Physics

Cervantes, Raphael

The Silicon Detector (SiD) is a proposed particle detector system that will work with a linear collider that will operate at energy levels as high as 500 to 1000 GeV. The purpose of the SiD is to explore the physics of electron-positron collisions at high energies. In order to study these collisions, the energies of each resulting particle must be measured accurately. The process of the formation of these particles will then be reconstructed by analyzing the final states of the resulting particles. The SiD will be designed to fulfill such a task. It will use a particle flow algorithm (PFA) to measure these energies accurately.
In the fall, our group ran a preliminary study using results from simulations to see what geometries of the detector worked best and found that small cell sizes gave better resolution. We also found that thicker calorimeters did not help much. We are currently doing a more systematic study using more variations on the detector parameters.
My task for the spring term is to test the particle flow algorithm. I will run batch jobs for the PFA to run. The batchjobs will run simulations including the PFA and then I will analyze the data. The data will look as if the real SiD had acquired the data itself. Based on the data, I will alter the java program which implements the PFA to possibly correct any mistakes and improve its performance.