HARP
Home page of the Experiment: http://harp.web.cern.ch/harp/
The main motivation is twofold: to acquire
adequate knowledge of pion yields for an optimal and quantitative
design of the proton driver of the neutrino factory; and to
improve substantially the calculation of the atmospheric neutrino
flux which is needed for a refined interpretation of the evidence
for neutrino oscillation from the study of atmospheric neutrinos
in present and forthcoming experiments.
Stage 1 of the HARP experiment was recommended for approval by
the SPSC on 1 December 1999, and was approved by the Research
Board on 17 February 2000 as PS214, for data-taking in the East
Area's T9 beam.
The HARP experiment comprises a large-acceptance charged-particle
magnetic spectrometer of conventional design, located in the East
Hall of the CERN PS and using the T9 tagged charged-particle
beam. The crucial detector for low-energy secondaries is a
cylindrical TPC inside a solenoid magnet which surrounds the
target. Downstream, the TPC is complemented by a forward
spectrometer with a large dipole magnet. The TPC, together with
the forward spectrometer,ensures nearly full 4 p coverage for the
momentum measurement of charged secondary particles.
Their identification is achieved by dE/Dx in the TPC, by time of
flight (TOF), by a threshold Cherenkov detector, and by and
electromagnetic calorimeter. A barrel of RPC surrounds the TPC
and complements its particle identification capabilities. The
experiment re-uses a lot of existing equipment, notably
calorimeter modules from the CHORUS experiment and drift chambers
from the NOMAD experiment.