Calibration of the RPC charge readout in the ARGO-YBJ experiment

Aielli, G. b.; Bacci, C. d.; Bartoli, B. f.; Bernardini, P. h.; Bi, X.; Bleve, C. h.; Branchini, P.; Budano, A.; Bussino, S. d.; Melcarne, A. C.; Camarri, P. b.; Cao, Z.; Cappa, A. l.; Cardarelli, R.; Catalanotti, S. f.; Cattaneo, C.; Celio, P. d.; Chen, S.; Chen, T.; Chen, Y.; Cheng, N.; Creti, P.; Cui, S.; Dai, B.; D'Alí, G. r.; Danzengluobus, M. l. t; I. h., De; D'Ettorre, B. f.; M. d., De; T. f., Di; Ding, X.; Sciascio, G. D.; Feng, C.; Feng, Z.; Feng, Z.; Galeazzi, F.; Galeotti, P. t.; Gargana, R.; Gou, Q.; Guo, Y.; He, H.; Hu, H.; Hu, H.; Huang, Q.; Iacovacci, M. f.; Iuppa, R. b.; James, I. d.; Jia, H.; Labacirens,; Li, H.; Li, J.; Li, X.; Liberti, B.; Liguori, G. n.; Liu, C.; Liu, C.; Liu, M.; Liu, J.; Lu, H.; Ma, X.; Mancarella, G. h.; Mari, S. d.; Marsella, G. w.; Martello, D. h.; Mastroianni, S.; Meng, X.; Montini, P. d.; Ning, C.; Pagliaro, A. x.; Panareo, M. w.; Perrone, L. w.; Pistilli, P. d.; Qu, X.; Rossi, E.; Ruggieri, F.; Saggese, L. f.; Salvini, P.; Santonico, R. b.; Shen, P.; Sheng, X.; Shi, F.; Stanescu, C.; Surdo, A.; Tan, Y.; Vallania, P. l.; Vernetto, S. l.; Vigorito, Carlo Francesco; Wang, B.; Wang, H.; Wu, C.; Wu, H.; Xu, B.; Xue, L.; Yan, Y.; Yang, Q.; Yang, X.; Yuan, A.; Zha, M.; Zhang, H.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, L.; Zhang, P.; Zhang, X.; Zhang, Y.; Zhaxisangzhus,; Zhou, X.; Zhu, F.; Zhu, Q.; Zizzi, G. h.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2010.09.066

The charge readout of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) is implemented in the ARGO-YBJ experiment to measure the charged particle density of the shower front up to 10 4/m 2, enabling the study of the primary cosmic rays with energies in the knee region. As the first time for RPCs being used this way, a telescope with RPCs and scintillation detectors is setup to calibrate the number of charged particles hitting a RPC versus its charge readout. Air shower particles are taken as the calibration beam. The telescope was tested at sea level and then moved to the ARGO-YBJ site for coincident operation with the ARGO-YBJ experiment. The charge readout shows good linearity with the particle density in the dynamic range (up to 200/m 2). © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.