Trends in particle and nuclei identification techniques in nuclear physics experiments

Abstract

Particle identification techniques are fundamental tools in nuclear physics experiments. Discriminating particles or nuclei produced in nuclear interactions allows to better understand the underlying physics mechanisms. The energy interval of these reactions is very broad, from sub-eV up to TeV. For this reason, many different identification approaches have been developed, often combining two or more observables. This paper reviews several of these techniques with emphasis on the expertise gained within the current nuclear physics scientific program of the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN).

Potential experimental evidence of an Efimov state in 12C and its influence on astrophysical carbon creation

“…CHIMERA is a 4π detector for charged particles, mainly devoted to isospin studies (see for instance [17][18][19][20]), that in the last years was used also as a nearly 4π gamma ray detector. This was possible thanks to the sensitivity to gamma rays of the second stage (CsI(Tl) scintillators with photodiode readout) of the telescopes of the spherical part of CHIMERA covering the angles from 30 • to 176 • [21][22][23]. The high efficiency of the detector allowed the collection of a large number of coincidences between 3-α particles from the decay of the Hoyle state (about 85000 events with an average detection efficiency of the order of 50%), and also a reasonable statistics (30% error bar) in the coincidence measurement of the scattered beam, the recoiling 12 C, and the two decay gamma rays from the Hoyle state.…”

Nucleosynthesis in multinucleon transfer reactions

“…The A and Z resolution obtained with the E-dE-TOF technique is limited by the pulse height deficit, which is strongest for heavy reaction products with low energy. The best mass resolutions which are presently reported are on the order ΔA/A ≈ 0.005, which is suitable to identify nuclei up to the region A ≈ 200 [94][95][96].…”

Templates of expected measurement uncertainties for neutron-induced capture and charged-particle production cross section observables

“…The stopping power of a charged particle in a detector is determined by the charge, Z, the mass, A, and the energy, E, which provides a mechanism for the identification of the particle. Detectors are often set up in a line, called a telescope configuration [99],…”