Performance Studies of Resistive Plate Chamber Detectors operated with eco-friendly gas mixtures

The CERN EP-DT Gas team identified several strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from LHC’s particle detectors. This report focuses on the studies of Resistive Plate Chamber Detectors operated with several different eco-friendly gas mixtures during July’s data acquisition and analysis campaign. Seven gas mixtures were tested during the July Test Beam at the Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF++), which provides a muon beam from the SPS line and an intense $^{137}$Cs gamma source, which simulates the LHC environment. This led to understanding two alternative components of the gas mixture: R-1234ze as a replacement for R-134a and NOVEC4710 for SF$_6$ alternatives. The first cannot be an exact substitute for the R-134a, whereas the latter showed promising results and will be further tested. We also concluded that the addition of CO$_2$ can represent a viable solution in terms of balancing performance and emissions. In the laboratory setup, we studied the effect of a new gas, N$_2$O, and the performance and operation of RPCs with multiple other gas mixtures.