Development and Characterisation of New High-Rate Muon Drift Tube Detectors

With the planned increase of the LHC luminosity above the design value and the expected higher background counting rates, detectors in the ATLAS muon spectrometer have to be replaced because the limits of the radiation tolerance will be exceeded. Therefore drift tube chambers with 15mm tube diameter were developed and a prototype chamber manufactured. The required construction accuracy was verified in a cosmic ray test stand and the limits of the resolution and efficiency were determined in a muon beam and under gamma irradiation and compared to model expectations.