• Question: Does the detector at CERN detect signals across two or three dimensions? Why?

    Asked by strangeness to Arttu, Ceri, James_M, Monica, Philip on 20 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: James M Monk

      James M Monk answered on 20 Jun 2011:


      The LHC detectors all have some ability to track particles in 3D. For example, my experiment (ATLAS) has an inner detector that is made of pixels and strips of silicon. when a charged particle passes through these pixels/strips it creates a free electon/hole pair in the silicon, which causes an electronic signal that is amplified and detected. So we end up with a “track” of silicon hits left by the passing particle that reveal its trajectory in three dimensions.

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