Time-of-flight measurements

Time of flight (TOF) measurements are used in high energy particle physics experiments to: (1) distinguish background from events and (2) identify particle types. An example of background separation is shown. These data come from a coincidence electro-production experiment performed at SLAC. The reaction being studied was e + p ..-->.. e' + p' + X where the e(p) stand for an initial and detected electron (proton) and X is a produced but undetected final state with a mass in the rho meson region. The relative time between the detection of an electron and a proton in two of the spectrometers in End Station A is plotted. Data for two different kinematic settings taken in the experiment are shown. The time resolution has been partially corrected for the various flight paths through the instruments and the difference in time resolutions between the two settings results mainly from the incompleteness of this correction. The signal height above the background depends on the time resolution, ..delta.. tau. The chance background is proportional to the product of the electron counting rate, the proton counting rate, and ..delta.. tau. Smaller ..delta.. tau means that higher electron and proton counting rates may be tolerated andmore » result in a similar signal-to-noise ratio.« less