Project Details
Projekt
Mighty Tracker Demonstrator
Subject Area
Particles, Nuclei and Fields
Term
since 2026
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 576034469
The LHCb experiment is one of the four large experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and is specialised on flavour physics. It has established itself as a reliable source of new insights in fundamental science, especially the understanding of matter and cosmos, through numerous discoveries and groundbreaking measurements made over the past 15 years. The aim is the full exploitation of the discovery potential of the LHC and thereby to enable the detection of signals of physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics through precision measurements in flavour physics. It is planned to enable the recently upgraded LHCb experiment in a third development stage that starts in 2035 to record and analyse data with multiple of the current acquisition rate. A central component is the Mighty Tracker detector, whose technology is being developed and which should get built from 2030 onwards. The project is organised collaboratively between 28 international institutions and has an estimated construction cost (excluding personnel) of about 35 million euros. This large project can only be successful if the participating institutes can already test key components locally during the development stage. According to their standing in the LHCb collaboration, the group of Prof. Gersabeck takes core responsibility for key components of the Mighty Tracker detector. A Demonstrator that tests all key technologies of the Mighty Tracker as a common system is therefore essential. This major instrumentation facilitates the integration of the operation and the development of control and data acquisition software into the development of its components. The Mighty Tracker Demonstrator is a standalone instrument, which however will have significant influence on the operation of the LHCb experiment. It will acceleration the commissioning of the entire detector and thereby increase the amount of data available for physics analyses. The Mighty Tracker Demonstrator consists of five components: 1. The central components is the detector itself, consisting of two parts, a silicon pixel detector and a module of scintillating fibers. 2. In addition, the operation component contains mechanical structural elements, thermal insulation, cooling and power supplies. 3. The signal generation component includes a laser system that can achieve highest spatial and temporal precision. In addition, the Mighty Tracker Demonstrator can be operated with alternative sources of particles. 4. The fourth component is the readout infrastructure, which contains, aside from signal connections, servers that contain specific card for the readout and which can process the signals. 5. Finally, the analysis components includes an oscilloscope that can acquire analogue and digital signals of the detectors directly, which is essential in the initial operation.
DFG Programme
Major Research Instrumentation
Major Instrumentation
Mighty Tracker Demonstrator
Instrumentation Group
0260 Strahlungsmeßplätze (außer 033, 330-339, 405 und 615-619)
Applicant Institution
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
