Simulation of BaBar Drift Chamber

The BaBar drift chamber (DCH) is used to measure the properties of charged particles created from e+e- collisions in the PEP-II asymmetric-energy storage rings by making precise measurements of position, momentum and ionization energy loss (dE/dx). In October of 2005, the PEP-II storage rings operated with a luminosity of 10 x 1033 cm-2s-1; the goal for 2007 is a luminosity of 20 x 1033 cm-2s-1, which will increase the readout dead time, causing uncertainty in drift chamber measurements to become more significant in physics results. The research described in this paper aims to reduce position and dE/dx uncertainties by improving our understanding of the BaBar drift chamber performance. A simulation program--called GARFIELD--is used to model the behavior of the drift chamber with adjustable parameters such as gas mixture, wire diameter, voltage, and magnetic field. By exploring the simulation options offered in GARFIELD, we successfully produced a simulation model of the BaBar drift chamber. We compared the time-to-distance calibration from BaBar to that calculated by GARFIELD to validate our model as well as check for discrepancies between the simulated and calibrated time-to-distance functions, and found that for a 0o entrance angle there is a very good match between calibrations, but at an entrance angle of 90o the calibration breaks down. Using this model, we also systematically varied the gas mixture to find one that would optimize chamber operation, which showed that the gas mixture of 80:20 Helium:isobutane is a good operating point, though more calculations need to be done to confirm that it is the optimal mixture