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UPGRADING THE ATLAS EXPERIMENT FOR THE LUMINOSITY FRONTIER AT THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER

Lead Research Organisation: University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

Refer to ATLAS-UK upgrade proposal to PPRP: "UPGRADING THE ATLAS EXPERIMENT FOR THE LUMINOSITY FRONTIER AT THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER" PPRP meeting, September 2012

Planned Impact

Refer to ATLAS-UK upgrade proposal to PPRP: "UPGRADING THE ATLAS EXPERIMENT FOR THE LUMINOSITY FRONTIER AT THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER" PPRP meeting, September 2012
 
Description The grant is for development and construction of an upgraded trigger system for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The trigger is the system which determines when a potentially interesting interaction has occurred and the detector should be read out. This requires custom hardware to execute specialised algorithms in a "pipelined" mode, so that the execution time is independent of what data are produced in the collision, as well as reading out data needed to monitor the performance of the system and diagnose any problems.

We have determined the link speeds that can be reliably used between detector and trigger, designed processor and test modules, and written the firmware (similar to software) to carry out the tasks above. Prototypes have been tested, final production is complete. The system has been installed and commissioned in the ATLAS detector at CERN, and is currently in use for selecting and collecting data from the LHC. This system has significantly improved the performance compared to the original trigger, improving the ATLAS experiment's ability to perform precise measurements and search for new physics processes.
Exploitation Route The problem is very specific to the Large Hadron Collider, and the solutions depend on the details of the ATLAS detector, though some elements of the techniques may be applicable to future projects.

The system is being further upgraded for the next phase of the LHC.
Sectors Other
 
Description ATLAS Trigger Upgrade 
Organisation Queen Mary University of London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We work together on the development of the ATLAS L1Calo Trigger upgrade, as Birmingham, RAL and QMUL did on the development of the original trigger.
Collaborator Contribution Design of hardware, firmware, software. Physics simulation studies to optimise functionality of the system.
Impact ATLAS Trigger/DAQ Phase-1 Upgrade Technical Design Report. CERN report CERN-LHCC-2013-018 Letter of Intent for the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS Experiment. CERN report CERN-LHCC-2012-022 Letter of Intent for the Phase-I Upgrade of the ATLAS Experiment. CERN report CERN-LHCC-2011-012.
Start Year 2009
 
Description ATLAS Trigger Upgrade 
Organisation University of Cambridge
Department Cavendish Laboratory
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We work together on the development of the ATLAS L1Calo Trigger upgrade, as Birmingham, RAL and QMUL did on the development of the original trigger.
Collaborator Contribution Design of hardware, firmware, software. Physics simulation studies to optimise functionality of the system.
Impact ATLAS Trigger/DAQ Phase-1 Upgrade Technical Design Report. CERN report CERN-LHCC-2013-018 Letter of Intent for the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS Experiment. CERN report CERN-LHCC-2012-022 Letter of Intent for the Phase-I Upgrade of the ATLAS Experiment. CERN report CERN-LHCC-2011-012.
Start Year 2009