Prospects for using sub-nanosecond time information to improve the LHCb RICH performance

The increase in luminosity during the LHC upgrade programme causes a rise in particle multiplicity and hit occupancy in the LHCb detector. To mitigate this effect for the Ring-Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detectors, it is proposed to use the photon detector hit time information. The excellent intrinsic time resolution of the RICH detectors of less than 10 ps was demonstrated in the LHCb simulation framework. The FPGA in the RICH detector readout chain includes a programmable time gate of 3 to 6 ns, which will be fine-tuned with the first data in 2021. This nanosecond time gate within the 25 ns readout is unprecedented in the LHC and will reduce background. During Upgrade Ib, the electronic readout chain can be modified or replaced in order to achieve a time resolution around 300 ps. For the high-luminosity environment during LHC Run 5, a further improvement in time resolution to approximately 50 to 100 ps is foreseen. The clear trend of improving particle ID performance with time resolution is presented in this poster.