Analytical solutions for space charge fields in TPC drift volumes

At high particle rates and high multiplicities, Time Projection Chambers can suffer from field distortions due to slow moving ions that accumulate within the drift volume. These variations modify the electron trajectory along the drift path, affecting the tracking performance of the detector. In order to calculate the track distortions due to an arbitrary space charge distribution in a TPC, novel representations of the Green's function for a TPC-like geometry were worked out. This analytical approach permits accurate predictions of track distortions due to an arbitrary space charge distribution (by solving the Langevin equation) as well as the possibility to benchmark common numerical methods to calculate such space charge fields. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.