Search for the best timing strategy in high precision drift chambers

Abstract

Computer simulated drift chamber pulses are used to investigate various possible timing strategies in drift chambers. In particular, leading edge, multiple threshold and flash ADC timing methods are compared. Although the presented method is general for any drift geometry, we concentrate our discussion on jet chambers where the drift velocity is about 3–5 cm/μs and the individual ionization clusters are not resolved, due to a finite speed of our electronics. We will not discuss the geometries where the drift time is expanded further and the individual clusters can be recorded (this is covered by a talk by Walenta).