RadPhi Technical Note
radphi-1998-901
Richard Jones
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
October 9, 1998
The Radphi experiment relies on running an efficient trigger for all-neutral decay modes of the(1020) meson in the presence of significant electromagnetic and charged hadronic backgrounds. Experience during commissioning has shown that of the two, the former is by far the most serious limitation faced by the experiment. Calculations based upon data from early beam tests in 1997 indicated that the experiment would saturate in terms of its trigger efficiency over an order of magnitude below the flux needed to achieve the sensitivity required by the physics. The situation was subsequently improved by installation of a helium bag and shielding, and during 1998 commissioning the situation was reassessed by careful measurements. This report details the analysis of these data in terms of a mathematical model for our electronics, along with checks that verify the model. It also shows what improvements will be required to approach the efficiency demanded in order to run effectively near the design beam flux of 5 · 10
photons/s, and suggests a surprising simplication to our trigger that would achieve this end.