Design studies for detectors at electron-going area at the EIC

Planned Electron Ion Collider (EIC) will provide new insight into spin and parton composition of protons, jet interactions in nuclei, electroweak phenomena, up to hypothetical physics beyond the standard model. Most of its physics program will rely on precise knowledge of instantaneous and integrated luminosity, both to address online machine performance and for physics cross sections.

Presented thesis topic deals with design of electromagnetic calorimeter with very short integration time, as crucial tool to measure instantaneous luminosity at the EIC by detecting hard bremmstrahlung photons. The calorimeter will need to resolve individual bunch crossings, which at the top intensity will take place at about every 10 ns. Similar calorimeter design will also be used as part of instrumentation to detect electrons scattered at very small angles. Detection of such electrons will be important for photoproduction processes and for data-driven calibration of detectors for luminosity measurement.

Specifically, student will be involved in all aspects of detector design. Review of physics motivation and need to measure luminosity will provide requirements on the detector. Following tasks are aimed at detailed simulation studies of potential detector response, energy resolution and timing characteristics. From hardware point of view, tasks related to the thesis consist of testing and design of readout chain for fast SiPM sensors, intended as active element in the calorimeter construction.