ON THE ANALYSIS OF BUBBLE CHAMBER TRACKS

Since its invention by Glaser in 1953, the bubble chamber has become a most valuable tool in high-energy physics. It combines a number of advantages of various older methods of particle detection: it offers high spatial resolution, rapid accumulation of data, some time resolution, and some choice of the nucleus whose interaction one wants to study (bubble chambers have been made to operate with a large number of different liquids, including H2, D2, He, Xe, and several hydrocarbons). In order to exploit the advantages of spatial resolution and rapid data accumulation, high-speed high-precision analysis procedures must be developed. In this article they discuss some of the problems posed by such analysis. The discussion is based largely on experience gained in performing hydrogen bubble chamber experiments with the University of California's Bevatron (6-Bev proton synchrotron)