The PHENIX Muon Detector System at RHIC
Abstract
The PHENIX Experiment is one of the large detector projects at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. One of the unique features of the PHENIX Detector is the muon tracking and identification system: No other RHIC experiment has a muon detection capability. Among the many physics topics explored by the observation of muons in Au-Au collisions are the effects of Debye screening on vector meson production, and the search for an enhancement in strangeness and heavy flavor production. In the collisions of polarized protons, the muon arms can explore the polarization of quarks and gluons in the proton through W and open heavy flavor production, respectively. The muon detector system will cover the rapidity range 1.1 < |η| < 2.4 (10^o < θ < 35^o), with full azimuthal coverage, muon identification in the momentum range 2 < p < 50 GeV/c, and π/μ rejection of 10-4. An overview of the physics capabilities and the design and performance of the detector will be presented, along with preliminary physics results.
- Publication:
-
APS Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- October 2001
- Bibcode:
- 2001APS..HAW.DH008H