The CDF detector: an overview

Abstract

The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) is a 5000 t magnetic detector built to study 2 TeV p̅p collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron. Event analysis is based on charged particle tracking, magnetic momentum analysis and fine-grained calorimetry. The combined electromagnetic and hadron calorimetry has approximately uniform granularity in rapidity-azimuthal angle and extends down to 2° from the beam direction. Various tracking chambers cover the calorimeter acceptance and extend charged particle tracking down to 2 mrad from the beam direction. Charged particle momenta are analyzed in a 1.5 T solenoidal magnetic field, generated by a superconducting coil which is 3 m in diameter and 5 m in length. The central tracking chamber measures particle momenta with a resolution better then δ p_T/p_T² = 2 × 10^-3 (GeV/c)^-1 in the region 40° < θ < 140° and δP_T/p_T² ≤ 4 × 10^-3 for 21°< θ < 40° and 140° < θ < 159°. The calorimetry, which has polar angle coverage from 2° to 178° and full azimuthal coverage, consists of electromagnetic shower counters and hadron calorimeters, and is segmented into about 5000 projective "towers" or solid angle elements. Muon coverage is provided by drift chambers in the region 56° < θ < 124°, and by large forward toroid systems in the range 3° < θ < 16° and 164° < θ < 177°. Isolated high momentum muons can be identified in the intermediate angular range by a comparison of the tracking and calorimeter information in many cases. A custom front-end electronics system followed by a large Fastbus network provides the readout of the approximately 100 000 detector channels. Fast Level 1 and Level 2 triggers make a detailed pre-analysis of calorimetry and tracking information; a Level 3 system of on-line processors will do parallel processing of events. This paper provides a summary of the aspects of the detector which are relevant to its physics capabilities, with references to more detailed descriptions of the subsystems.