HYPER tracker: A wafer-scale bent MAPS detector in vacuum
A detailed understanding of the interaction between hyperons (baryons containing strange quarks) and nucleons remains one of the major open points in nuclear physics, with wide implications such as the composition of the cores of neutron stars. The HYPER experiment, planned to start data taking in 2029 at the antimatter factory in CERN, aims to use anti-protons to generate and study an abundant list of new hypernuclei. One of the major subdetectors of HYPER will be the trackers, which aim to measure the binding energy of the hypernuclei with a precision of O(100 keV) by precisely tracking the decay products. Given the low energy of the tracks expected, it is crucial to have a detector with as low a material budget as possible. In this regard, the ALICE ITS3 is hard to beat as the pioneering detector project of ultra-low material CMOS MAPS tracker concept. As such, it is planned to use the same sensor and a very similar geometry for the tracker of HYPER. However, the HYPER tracker must be operated in a vacuum, which brings about major complications, especially for the cooling of the sensors. To address these issues and to decide on the final tracker design, our group is currently carrying out simulation studies and mock-up cooling tests in a vacuum.
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