Hadronic Interactions In The Minos Detectors

MINOS, the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search, will study neutrino flavor transformations using a Near detector at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and a Far detector located in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. The MINOS collaboration also constructed the Ca1Det (calibration detector), a smaller version of the Near and Far detectors, to determine the topological and signal response to hadrons, electrons and muons. The detector was exposed to test- beams in the CERN Proton Synchrotron East Hall during 2001–2003, where it collected events at momentum settings between 200 MeV/c and 10 GeV/c. In this dissertation we present results of the Ca1Det experiment, focusing on the topological and signal response to hadrons. We briefly describe the MINOS experiment and its vi iron-scintillator tracking-sampling calorimeters as a motivation for the CalDet experiment. We discuss the operation of the CalDet in the beamlines as well as the trigger and particle identification systems used to isolate the hadron sample. The method used to calibrate the MINOS detectors is described and validated with test- beam data. The test-beams were simulated to model the muon flux, energy loss upstream of the detector and the kaon background. We describe the procedure used to discriminate between pions and muons on the basis of the event topology. The hadron samples were used to benchmark the existing GEANT3 based hadronic shower codes and determine the detector response and resolution for pions and protons. We conclude with comments on the response to single hadrons and to neutrino induced hadronic showers.