The Silicon Tracker of the ALPHA Magnetic Spectromete

by R. Battiston (University and INFN Perugia)

Monday 21 Sept 1998, 00:00 → 00:15 Europe/Zurich

CERN

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is the first space born magnetic detector. It will determine the matter and antimatter components of the primary cosmic rays with sensitivity up to 5 orders of magnitude better than before. AMS has flown successfully for the first time on the Shuttle Discovery, on June 2nd 1998, a mission lasting 10 days. At the heart of the AMS permanent magnet sits a high precision Silicon Tracker covering a surface of 5.1 m2 (double sided), with 10 µm resolution on the bending plane and equipping a volume exceeding 1 cubic meter, making this detector the largest of this kind. The design and construction of the Silicon Tracker has been done in HEP Institutes following the rules of space certification and test (vibration, shock, thermovacuum, choice of high reliability components...) exporting a technology widely used at accelerators to the space domain. In this talk the AMS Silicon Tracker is presented and the experience of building a space particle detector and to operate it during the Shuttle mission is discussed.

Organiser(s): Rui Ribeiro EP Div