Comparative Analysis of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter response to Pions and Protons

A comparative analysis of the calorimeter response to pions and protons has been done using positive pion beams obtained in the H8 beam line at SPS where among pions there is also a significant amount of protons and muons. The separation between protons, pions and muons have been done using the Cerenkov Counter and the energy deposited in calorimeter. The differences which have been observed in the pion and proton response : a higher response and a better linearity for pions as well as a better resolution for protons, can be well understood by the existence of a pure hadronic fraction for pions smaller than the pure hadronic fraction for protons. The obtained experimental results are in good agreement with the Monte Carlo simulations.