Future Experiments seek Smart Technologies (FEST)

Basic data for this project

Description

Detecting the best gaseous ionisation detectors A gas electron multiplier (GEM) is a type of gaseous ionisation detector used in particle physics. GEMs are one of the class of micropattern gaseous detectors, which includes micromegas and other technologies. Future detectors need improved production techniques to facilitate their industrialisation for other non-academic applications like security and medical imaging applications. The EU-funded FEST project will develop techniques for better production yield and reduced construction time, allowing also for a significant cost reduction. This is one of the main goals of this project. It will also perform Monte Carlo simulations of future experiments that will improve and update event generators to the new experimental scenarios. Objective Future Experiments (FE) in Particle Physics face new challenges both in terms of large areas and high rates. Extended R&D activities on existing detectors such as GEM, MicroMegas, micro-RWell, silicon detectors, large volume drift chambers, as well as detectors still to be fully developed like Dual Readout Calorimeters, are the ingredients to build any experiment at future accelerators (as CepC, FCC, ILC or Muon Collider). The very large scales of future detectors require new and improved production techniques. Their industrialization would allow for: a plethora of non-academic applications such as homeland security, monitoring devices as well as medical imaging applications; a better production yield and a reduced construction time; a significant cost reduction. This is one of the main goals of our intersectorial activities within the Project. FE will face unprecedented experimental conditions, with strong magnetic fields and extremely high luminosities. New Front End Electronics (FEE), and new digitization, clustering and tracking algorithms must be developed and optimized. An ideal playground for such processes is the BESIII Cylindrical GEM Inner Tracker (CGEM-IT) that is being built and will be installed at IHEP, Beijing, within 2021. This will be the first time that a GEM is operated in a 1 T magnetic field being readout in micro-TPC mode and exploiting the TIGER, a fully custom ASIC for MPGD readout. Another aim of the project is to develop a new generation of general purpose ASICs, capable of interfacing with several different detector types. FEST also aims to perform MonteCarlo simulations of FE, improving and updating event generators to the new experimental scenarios. All these activities require a large computing power. A possible approach involving cloud and HPC techniques on micro infrastructures will be investigated; special care will be devoted to applications that could ease the access of SMEs to local cloud technologies.