The STAR time projection chamber: a unique tool for studying high multiplicity events at RHIC

The STAR Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is used to record the collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The TPC is the central element in a suite of detectors that surrounds the interaction vertex. The TPC provides complete coverage around the beam-line, and provides complete tracking for charged particles within +/- 1.8 units of pseudo-rapidity of the center-of-mass frame. Charged particles with momenta greater than 100 MeV/c are recorded. Multiplicities in excess of 3000 tracks per event are routinely reconstructed in the software. The TPC measures 4 m in diameter by 4.2 m long, making it the largest TPC in the world. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.