Study of the 2004 End-Cap beam tests of the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS detector is an all-purpose detector to study high-ener gy proton–proton colli- sions. ATLAS is located at the LHC (Lar ge Hadron Collider) at CERN in Gene va, Switzer - land. Before first data taking, man y beam tests have been carried out in order to fully understand each detector component. The studies in this thesis will concentrate on the 2004 beam test of the entire combined end-cap calorimeter system. The first section of this thesis outlines particle selection in the incoming test beam, eliminating contamination in order to have an accurate calibration environment. The remainder of the thesis focuses on detector calibration and performance studies, including signal-to-ener gy calibration con- stant determination, and various detector ener gy summation methods studying their effect on response. Ov erall detector ener gy sharing characteristics including the response of dead detector regions is also presented.