Timing Detector Studies

Background muons, mostly from backscattering in the environmental hall, can enter the decay vessel and can be reconstructed as fake signals. These combinatorial di-muon background tracks are randomly distributed in time along the whole length of a spill, so an effective rejection of these events would be a coincidence timing requirement. In order to reduce this background to an acceptable level, a dedicated timing detector located
between the spectrometer and calorimeters with a timing resolution of 100 ps or less is required.
Our group is studying one option for such a detector, consisting of rows of plastic scintillating bars, readout on either end by Silicon Photomultipliers. Such a technology has already been shown to resolve signals in the sub 100 ps range. An ongoing effort is under way to optimize the geometry and electronic readout of such a set-up as would be appropriate for SHiP, with initial studies indicating that a resolution down to 50 ps is achievable.