Influence of magnetic fields on the response of a uranium scintillator electromagnetic calorimeter

The response of a uranium scintillator sampling calorimeter to incident electrons and to the uranium radioactivity was measured in transverse magnetic fields up to 1.4 Tesla. The signal from electrons rises by as much as 9% due to the expected increase in light output of plastic scintillators in magnetic fields. For fields below 0.3 Tesla the response to the uranium radioactivity tracks the electron signal to within about 0.5%. At higher fields it drops sharply, reaching -1.5% at 1.4 Tesla. The consequences for the calibration of the ZEUS uranium scintillator calorimeter are discussed. We found no evidence for a change in the electromagnetic sampling fraction for fields below 0.3 Tesla. (orig.)