Improvement of the Track-based Alignment Procedure of the CMS Muon System
Abstract
The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is
used to explore subatomic interactions through proton-proton collisions. The resulting out-
burst of particles from these high energy collisions is then tracked and analyzed through a
sophisticated cylindrical layering of subdetectors. Proper alignment of the outermost sub-
detector on the endcaps of the cylinder, the Cathode Strip Chambers (CSC), is essential
for an accurate reconstruction of momenta of various particles, especially for physics pro-
cesses with muon signatures. The Reference-Target Algorithm developed and used by CMS
for muon chamber alignment has been demonstrated to achieve a precision of better than
300-400 microns. However, the upcoming increase in beam energy of the LHC may allow
production of new heavy particles that decay to TeV-scale muons, predicted, for example,
in models that explain the weakness of gravity by new space dimensions. Optimization of
the experiment's physics potential for higher energy calls for improved precision of muon
alignment, which is currently limited by systematic e ects. This study focuses on identi-
fying the potential systematic e ects, evaluating their impact, and proposing solutions or
improvements to mitigate these e ects.
Subject
CMS, LHC, Muon AlignmentCitation
Amin, Nick Jogesh (2014). Improvement of the Track-based Alignment Procedure of the CMS Muon System. Honors and Undergraduate Research. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /152059.