LaTeX, lesson 1

Andrea Onori
November 19, 2020

Abstract

Calorimetry has become a well-

understood, powerful, and versatile
measurement method. Besides per-
fecting this technique to match in-
creasingly demanding operation at
highenergy particle accelerators, physi-
cists are developing low-temperature
calorimeters to extend detection down
to ever lower energies, and atmo-
spheric and deep-sea calorimeters to
scrutinize the Universe up to the
highest energies. We summarize the
state of the art, with emphasis on
the physics of the detectors and in-
novative technologies.

1
Contents
1 Introduction 3

2 Electromagnetic Calorimetry 3
2.1 Physics of the electromagnetic cascade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Energy resolution of electromagnetic calorimeters . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2.1 Stochastic term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2.2 Noise term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3 Hadron Calorimetry 4

4 CALORIMETER OPERATION 4

2
1 Introduction
Calorimetry is an ubiquitous detection principle in particle physics. Originally
invented for the study of cosmic-ray phenomena, this method was developed
and perfected for accelerator-based particle physics experimentation in order
to measure mainly the energy of electrons, photons and hadrons. Calorimeters
are blocks of instrumented material in which particles to be measured are fully
absorbed and their energy transformed into a measurable quantity. The inter-
action of the incident particle with the detector (through electromagnetic or
strong processes) produces a shower of secondary particles with progressively
degraded energy. The energy deposited by the charged particles of the shower in
the active part of the calorimeter, which can be detected in the form of charge
or light, serves as a measurement of the energy of the incident particle.

2 Electromagnetic Calorimetry
In this Section we discuss the physics and the performance of electromagnetic calorimeters. The main techniques

used to build these detectors are also reviewed, and their merits and drawbacks are described. Examples of

calorimeters operated at recent or present high-energy physics experiments, or

under construction for future machines, are given as illustration.

2.1 Physics of the electromagnetic cascade

In spite of the apparently complex phenomenology of shower development in a
material, electrons and photons interact with matter via a few well-understood
QED processes, and the main shower features can be parametrized with simple
empirical functions.

2.2 Energy resolution of electromagnetic calorimeters

The measurement of energy with an electromagnetic calorimeter is based on
the principle that the energy released in the detector material by the charged
particles of the shower, mainly through ionization and excitation, is proportional
to the energy of the incident particle.

2.2.1 Stochastic term

As already mentioned, this term is due to the fluctuations related to the physical
development of the shower. In homogeneous calorimeters intrinsic fluctuations

are small because the energy deposited in the active volume of the detector by
an incident monochromatic beam of particles does not fluctuate event by event.

3
2.2.2 Noise term
This contribution to the energy resolution comes from the electronic noise of the
readout chain and depends on the detector technique and on the features of the
readout circuit (detector capacitance, cables, etc.).

3 Hadron Calorimetry
In this Section we present the physics and certain
aspects of the detectors used in modern hadron calorimetry. We emphasize the
degree of understanding which has transformed the design of such instruments
from an empirical art to a science-based, powerful, and widely used technology.

4 CALORIMETER OPERATION
See section 2.1