Operation and performance of the sPHENIX vertex detector

23 Jun 2026, 19:40
20m
Garland 064

Garland 064

Poster presentation Poster session

Speaker

Iftekhar Ahmed (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)

Description

The Monolithic Active Pixel Vertex Detector (MVTX) is the innermost tracking detector of the sPHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and essential for reconstructing short-lived charm and beauty hadrons. It consists of three concentric layers of detector material, utilizing the ALICE Pixel Detector (ALPIDE) ASIC. The detector covers a radial range from 2.5 cm to 4.5 cm from the beam line and provides precise measurements of primary and secondary vertices. These layers provide high spatial resolution and strong tracking performance. Each sensor is 50 μm thick and features pixels of size 29 × 27 μm arranged in a matrix of 1024 × 512. The sensors are fabricated using 180 nm CMOS technology and achieve a hit resolution better than 6 μm. The sensing elements and readout electronics are integrated on a single silicon chip. Across its three layers, the MVTX comprises 48 staves and 432 ALPIDE sensors, resulting in over 226 million pixels that provide complete and robust tracking coverage. Each pixel chip performs signal amplification, digitization, and zero suppression directly on chip, which reduces data volume and improves readout efficiency. The MVTX has operated in triggered heavy ion collisions and streamed proton-proton collisions. We will show the MVTX's vertexing performance and its relation to the rest of the sPHENIX system to unlock sPHENIX's full heavy flavor potential.

Is this an experimental talk? Yes
Is this on behalf of a collaboration? Yes
Which collaboration? sPHENIX
Are you willing to present as a poster if it is not selected for oral presentation? Yes

Author

Iftekhar Ahmed (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)

Presentation materials

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