Project
ATLAS Experiment Upgrade

Code 2024.06584.CERN

Beneficiary Entity

LIP - Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas

Project summary

The aim of this proposal is to support a strong Portuguese participation in the crucial upgrade of ATLAS [ATLAS-EXP] necessary for the HighLuminosity LHC phase (HL-LHC) [HL-LHC]. The work plan proposed in the ATLASupgrade project focuses on specific contributions to the ATLAS Phase II upgrade that will allow the experiment to operate at luminosities up to 7.5 times above the LHC design. These activities are already well under way, initiated and consolidated during two previous funded projects, and our work has already had an important impact in ATLAS. The requested funding will be crucial to fulfil our scientific and technological goals, as well as Portugal’s commitment to the experiment. Funding for the operation and physics exploitation activities during Run 3 is requested in a different proposal.  LIP is a founding member of the ATLAS Collaboration and has made crucial contributions to the TileCal calorimeter, the forward detectors and trigger/data acquisition (TDAQ) design, construction and commissioning. Our team members have/are occupying a number of roles of responsibility in the collaboration in areas where the group is involved, and the importance of our activities was recognized by the collaboration in awarding prizes for outstanding contributions to several group members.  We continue to make leading contributions to the ATLAS TileCal and TDAQ. The respective Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) for Phase II correspond to a very significant financial contribution by the Portuguese funding agency, FCT. This contribution, however, covers exclusively the construction costs of the final deliverables. It must be matched by the necessary funding to support the associated R&D and software development effort, including the required human resources, that will ensure the proper development, design, prototyping, debugging and finally construction of the new systems and upgrades. The most important activities that we aim to continue from the previous funded project include the complete renewal of the TileCal hadronic calorimeter High Voltage distribution system (TileCal HV) [TILEUPG2], which is entirely under LIP’s responsibility, as well as fast event reconstruction in the TDAQ using graphical processors (GPUs) as hardware accelerators. Our detailed study of the ageing of TileCal optical components proved to be crucial to understand a potential problem with loss of scintillating light yield. We also coordinate the ATLAS HL-LHC Performance studies group.  An area of activity which started in the previous funded project is R&D and construction of the new (and challenging) High Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD) [HGTD-TDR] aiming to measure the tracking time with an accuracy better than 50 ps. This is an important new addition to ATLAS, intended to mitigate the effects of a very high pileup rate, and our team has already made a strong impact in this area.  The current proposal has long-term strategic value, both to the ATLAS team and to LIP as a whole. Part of this value comes from supporting our longterm involvement in the TileCal. Another part comes from exploring the application of commodity computing hardware accelerators, such as GPUs, to time-critical trigger software, which we believe will pay strong dividends. And finally, the creation or consolidation, at LIP, of capabilities to produce electronics and firmware for particle physics applications, is again of strategic importance for the future. Part of this work will therefore be carried out in close collaboration with the LIP electronics laboratory, eCRLab, and Detector Laboratory.  Complementing these hardware oriented activities, other crucial tasks in this project will focus on detailed studies of the Tilecal performance, including radiation-induced ageing of TileCal fibres and scintillators, which exploit the group’s core expertise, and on specific prospective physics analyses to make the most of the HL-LHC dataset.  In summary, this project has four main lines of development: development of the new TileCal HV system, performance aspects of the TileCal (optics and use in muon trigger); contributing to the new HGTD detector; and the ATLAS trigger, with open ended R&D on the application of GPUs to trigger processing; and prospective physics studies.

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Support under

Reforçar a investigação, o desenvolvimento tecnológico e a inovação

Region of Intervention

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