TrackingDetektoren

TrackingDetektoren are detector systems designed to determine the trajectories of charged particles by recording their positions at many points along a path. They provide measurements that, together with a magnetic field, allow the reconstruction of momentum, charge, and decay vertices, and they form the primary spatial backbone of modern collider experiments.

In operation, a charged particle traverses the detector material, leaving ionization, scintillation light, or Cherenkov radiation. This signal is collected by sensors such as silicon microstrip or pixel detectors, gaseous wire or time-projection chambers, or scintillator-based layers, and read out by fast electronics. By collecting a sequence of position measurements, the particle trajectory can be fitted with a track model, and its momentum is inferred from the curvature in the magnetic field. Close to the interaction point, vertex detectors provide precise primary and secondary vertex information.

Common technologies include silicon trackers (pixel and strip) for high spatial resolution, gaseous trackers (drift chambers, time projection chambers) for larger volumes, and increasingly, micro-pattern gas detectors (GEM, Micromegas). Scintillator-based trackers and hybrid designs are also used in some experiments. The design balances spatial resolution, material budget, radiation hardness, and rate capability, since material affects multiple scattering and energy loss.

Applications span high-energy physics experiments at accelerators, such as collider detectors, as well as neutrino and cosmic ray experiments. Data processing involves pattern recognition and track fitting, with alignment and calibration to correct for detector misalignments and time-dependent effects.