112 Nucl ear I nst rument s and Methods mPhysi cs Resear ch A252 ( 1986) 112- 118
Nor t h- Hol l and, Amst er dam
A WATER CHERENKOV COUNTERSENSI TI VE
TONONWAVESHI FTED ULTRAVI OLET
CHERENKOV PHOTONS
C .R
. BOWER,
R .M . HEI NZ and J . REYNOLDSON
Physi cs Depart ment , I ndi ana Uni ver si t y, Bl oom i ngt on, IN 47405, USA
S. MUFSON and J . PETRAKI S
Ast r onomy Depart ment , I ndi ana Uni ver si t y, Bl oom i ngt on, IN 47405, USA
S.P
. AHLEN,
J .J . BEATTY and A . TOMASCH
Physi cs Depart ment , Bost on Uni ver si t y, Bost on, MA 02215, USA
S.
BARW I CK,
G . GERBI ER, D . LOWDER, H .S. PARK, P.B. PRI CE and M .H . SALAMON
Physi cs Depart ment , Uni ver si t y of Cal i f orni a, Ber kel ey, CA 94720, USA
J . MUSSER and G . TARLÉ
Physi cs Depart ment , Uni ver si t y of M i chi gan, Ann Ar bor , MI 48109, USA
Recei ved 19 June 1986
We descr i be a pr ot ot ype wat er Cher enkov count er whi ch has been bui l t and t est ed with r el at i vi st i c cosm ic r ay muons . An anal ysi s
of t he expect ed phot oel ect r on yi el d is descr i bed . The pr edi ct ed r esul t of 315±31 phot oel ect r ons is compar ed with t he experi ment al
r esul t of 272±30 phot oel ect r ons . We f i nd t hat over 70% of t he Cher enkov phot ons det ect ed have wavel engt hs l ess t han 400 rim
1 .
I nt r oduct i on
The pr ot ot ype
Cher enkov det ect or descr i bed her e is
a smal l er versi on
of a wat er Cher enkov count er whi ch is
bei ng desi gned
and bui l t f or a bal l oon- bor ne exper i -
ment, PBAR . The
pur pose of PBAR is to measur e t he
f l ux of l ow ener gy (0.1
to
1
.5 GeV ki net i c ener gy)
ant i pr ot ons in t he pri mary cosm ic r ays in
or der to
conf i r m an ear l i er ant i pr ot on measur ement [ 1] whi ch
coul d be i nt er pr et ed as evi dence of
supersymmet ri c
par t i cl e anni hi l at i ons [ 2, 3]
.
The i nt egr at ed PBAR det ect or is a
magnet i c spec-
t romet er consi st i ng of t hr ee
separ at e det ect or s : a sub-
nanosecond t i me-of -f l i ght ( TOF) sci nt i l l at or syst em; a
densel y packed, mul t i l ayer dr i f t t ube hodoscope l ocat ed
in t he bor e of a 15 k G, t wo r i ng super conduct i ng
magnet ; and a 15 cm t hi ck wat er Cher enkov count er in
t he shape of a t r uncat ed pyr am id with an oct agonal
base 1 macr oss
.
The
hodoscope will gi ve t he r i gi di t y of
a t r aver si ng par t i cl e and t he si gn of t he par t i cl e' s char ge .
The TOF sci nt i l l at or s will gi ve t he magni t ude of t he
par t i cl e' s char ge and t he par t i cl e' s speed, and will r ej ect
upwar d
goi ng
( al bedo) par t i cl es . The Cher enkov coun-
0168- 9002/ 86/ $03 . 50
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El sevi er Sci ence
Publ i sher s B.V.
( Nor t h- Hol l and
Physi cs Publ i shi ng Di vi si on)
t er will gi ve t he speed f or a par t i cl e
movi ng f ast er t han
0 . 67c and t hr eshol d i nf ormat i on ( no
si gnal ) f or par t i cl es
movi ng sl ower t han t hi s val ue . The
r edundancy of t he
TOF and Cher enkov si gnal s
will r educe t he er r or in t he
vel oci t y measur ement when t he
vel oci t y is gr eat er t han
0. 67c in addi t i on to addi ng convi nci ngness
to t he r esul t s
f or event s bel ow t hi s Cher enkov t hr eshol d
.
Water has been chosen f or t he
Cher enkov r adi at or
f or sever al r easons . The i ndex of
r ef r act i on (1 . 34 at 400
ri m) pr ovi des a good Cher enkov t hr eshol d f or
par t i cl es
whose vel oci t y can be accur at el y det er m i ned
by t he
TOF det ect or , and t he Cher enkov si gnal f or par t i cl es
movi ng above t hi s t hr eshol d ai ds in t he vel oci t y
de-
t er m i nat i on in t he r egi on wher e t he TOF vel oci t y r eso-
l ut i on begi ns
to degr ade . In addi t i on, wat er has a l ong
l i ght at t enuat i on l engt h,
does not sci nt i l l at e, is c hem-
i cal l y i ner t , nonvol at i l e, and r eadi l y avai l abl e . Al so, it
is
unaf f ect ed by t emper at ur e changes under t ypi cal det ec-
t or oper at i ng condi t i ons . Last l y, t her e exi st s a vast
l i t er at ur e quant i f yi ng
t he physi cal pr oper t i es of wat er .
For t he PBAR experi ment
we r equi r e a Cher enkov
count er with a hi gh degr ee of spat i al
uni f or m ity of
r esponse ; t her ef or e, we consi der ed pl aci ng
t he wat er