A continuous read-out TPC for the ALICE upgrade

The largest gaseous Time Projection Chamber (TPC) in the world, the ALICE TPC, will be upgraded based on Micro Pattern Gas Detector technology during the second long shutdown of the CERN Large Hadron Collider in 2018/19. The upgraded detector will operate continuously without the use of a triggered gating grid. It will thus be able to read all minimum bias Pb-Pb events that the LHC will deliver at the anticipated peak interaction rate of 50 kHz for the high luminosity heavy-ion era. New read-out electronics will send the continuous data stream to a new online farm at rates up to 1 TByte/s. A fractional ion feedback of below 1% is required to keep distortions due to space charge in the TPC drift volume at a tolerable level. The new read-out chambers will consist of quadruple stacks of Gas Electron Multipliers (GEM), combining GEM foils with a different hole pitch. Other key requirements such as energy resolution and operational stability have to be met as well. A careful optimisation of the performance in terms of all these parameters was achieved during an extensive R&D program. A working point well within the design specifications was identified with an ion backflow of 0.63%, a local energy resolution of 11.3% (sigma) and a discharge probability comparable to that of standard triple GEM detectors. (C) 2015 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.