The T2K TPC sees its first tracks!
At the end of August, IRFU's T2K team (SPP and SEDI) installed two Micromegas detectors with their front-end electronics (AFTER chips, 12 FEC and 2 FEM boards) on the T2K experiment's first TPC at TRIUMF, Vancouver. A data collection run using a TRIUMF test beam (a 150 MeV/c to 400 MeV/c mix of protons, pions, electrons and muons) was started a few days ago and the TPC has now seen its first tracks. The Micromegas detectors and electronics have been operating smoothly for several days.
The three TPCs will be installed at JPARC (Tokai, Japan) as of the summer 2009 to detect the first T2K neutrinos in December 2009. The first T2K results concerning theta_13 are expected by summer 2010!
M. Zito, 2008-11-13 00:00:00
