Calibration of the ZEUS forward calorimeter

The physics at the ep-collider HERA requires high resolution calorimetry calibrated with an accuracy of better than 2%. The ZEUS detector meets these conditions by means of a compensating uranium scintillator sandwich calorimeter with an energy resolution of σ/E = 35%/√E + σcal, where σcal is the calibration error. One of the tools to minimize σcal is the calibration with the signals of the radioactivity of the Uranium plates (UNO). Taking UNO data every 8 hours keeps the calibration stable within ≅ 1%. The muon calibration is done employing an algorithm, that determines the most probable energy loss with a precision of ≅ 1%. The channel-to-channel fluctuations of the ratio μ/UNO for a forward calorimeter (FCAL) prototype show a spread of 5.2% for the electromagnetic calorimeter and ≅ 2.5% for the hadronic sections. Improvements in the construction of the FCAL modules decreased these fluctuations to 2.0% and ≅ 1.8% respectively. The influence of the cracks between the calorimeter modules amounts to ≅ 1.7% on average for the ZEUS geometry, if a 2 mm thick Pb-sheet is introduced between the modules. We conclude that we are able to keep σcal below 2%. (orig.)