Improved Track Characterization in PHENIX Using a Kalman Filter
Abstract
The charged particle tracking system of the PHENIX central arm spectrometers is quite complex, consisting of several different detectors each employing a different technology. A standard technique for fitting tracks in a particle physics experiment is to use a Kalman filter, but so far, track fitting in PHENIX has been done using an alternate method and by using the subset of the detectors which sit closest to the vertex. By recrafting the track fitting so that it is based on a Kalman filter, two main benefits are gained: an improved momentum resolution, especially for very high- and very low-momentum tracks; and a more solid foundation for track characterization, which helps distinguish true tracks from background tracks. Reconstructed tracks from the recent p+p and d+Au data will be fit using the Kalman filter, and the degree to which the Kalman information improves both the signal to noise ratio for non-identified charged particles at a given pT and the momentum resolution for those tracks will be shown. The effect of the new information on the determination of h/π^0 in p+p and d+Au will be shown.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Nuclear Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- October 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003APS..DNP.BD006M