MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. Scientists from the Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) have created a mounting fixture for the SciFi tracking detector to further upgrade the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The new fixture detail will be delivered to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) before the end of September. This information was reported to TASS by the Chief of the Department of Applied Physics at TPU Alexander Wagner.
"Now, we have already transported to the CERN the first details of rail system of the tracking detector LHCb [Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment] which is one of the LHC’s four main detectors. Before the end of September, other parts of the detector will be supplied as well. This activity is the part of the current upgrading of the detectors," Wagner said.
The details will serve as a fixture for the moving elements of the SciFi tracking detector parts which will be assembled on the detecting complex LHCb. In the course of experiments, the detector must move with all the details being placed at strictly defined positions within the accuracy of a micron. To achieve such precision, the Tomsk researchers developed an overhead system, railing, and tray (slide), with which the detectors will move along the Collider.
LHCb is one of the main detectors at LHC. For instance, it was involved in experiments on the asymmetry of matter and antimatter in interactions of b-quarks (the so-called "beautiful quarks").
"The main challenge to manufacturing such mechanisms is a magnetic field. That is why all the elements must consist only of non-magnetic material, without lubricants, electric motors and so on," the TPU scientists stressed.
Previously, it had been reported that over the past two years, the TPU has become an active member of six large CERN collaborations and, additionally is a member of four important experiments. In particular, Tomsk physicists have joined the upgrading efforts for the LHC. Another research group is working on enhancing the gas detectors and their introduction to the industry as a part of the RD51 collaboration. Another group of Tomsk Polytechnic University scientists has joined the work of the international research collaboration, NA64, on the super-proton synchrotron (SPS) which is exploring the dark matter.