Development and operation of tracking detectors in silicon technology for the LHCb upgrade

The LHCb experiment is one of the four main experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It uses the energy density provided by the LHC to attempt to probe asymmetries between particles and antiparticles that can not be explained by the Standard Model, and thus provide evidence that would allow us to build a new model of fundamental physics. This thesis covers the author's work in the Silicon Tracker $(\textit{ST})$ and VErtex LOcator $(\textit{VELO})$ detectors of the LHCb experiment. The thesis explains the installation and commissioning of the $ST$, as well as the development of the slow control for the detector. The $ST$ is a silicon micro-strip detector which provides precise momentum measurements of ionizing particles coming from the collisions. The $ST$consists of two sub-detectors: the Tracker Turicensis $ (TT)$, located upstream of the 4 Tm dipole magnet covering the full acceptance of the experiment, and the Inner Tracker $(IT)$, which covers the region of highest particle density closest to the LHC beam pipe in the three tracking stations (T1-T3) located downstream of the magnet. It also includes the author's work in the research and development of new sensor technologies for the $VELO$ upgrade. The $VELO$ is the silicon detector surrounding the LHCb interaction point. Its role is critical in the overall performance of the LHCb experiment, providing excellent vertex and impact parameter resolution, high tracking efficiency, and fast pattern recognition for triggering purposes. An upgrade of the LHCb experiment is planned for 2018. The upgraded $VELO$ will have to cope with radiation levels and output bandwidth far more demanding than the current ones. The document presents the results of three micro-strip prototypes and three Medipix3 and Timepix assemblies which were tested with a beam of 120 $GeV/c$ pions at the CERN SPS facility during the 2010-12 test-beam campaigns. Two of the pixel devices were irradiated with neutrons up to a total dose of $\rm 2.5\times10^{15}~1MeVn_{eq}/cm^2$.