STAR Experiment and the Forward Upgrade

Faculty Sponsor

Shirvel Stanislaus

Faculty Sponsor Email Address

shirvel.stanislaus@valpo.edu

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Physics and Astronomy

Document Type

Poster Presentation

Date

Fall 10-25-2019

Abstract

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) sited at Brookhaven National Lab in Upton, New York, is the only collider in the world capable of colliding beams of polarized protons. The Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) detector analyzes properties of these collisions to investigate, among other things, the gluon spin contribution to the spin of the proton. The gluon contribution can be theoretically calculated from an experimentally measured asymmetry in the number of π0’s (a particle produced in the collision) produced as a function of the protons’ spin configuration. STAR’s Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EEMC) can reconstruct a π0 by measuring the energy of its two decay photons (the π0 decays in 10-16 s). This summer, we performed Quality Assurance (QA) on the 2012 p+p data, made asymmetry calculations by fitting mass plots to a couple different functions, helped prepare a forward upgrade at STAR, and processed some data from 2013. The QA involved plotting several characteristics of the π0 reconstruction process as a function of run number (segments of data). At STAR, Andrew and J.D. spent a total of eight weeks gluing light guides to a calorimeter, polishing and painting scintillators, and testing data from a prototype to help set up the Forward Calorimeter System (FCS), which is taking the place of the now dismantled Forward Meson Spectrometer (FMS).

Biographical Information about Author(s)

Having worked on the STAR experiment last year, I was amazed by all the people associated with the project and wanted to do it again. It's really fun to work with a lot people to solve a large mystery.

Additional Presentation Information

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