Calibration Run preparation

This page is meant to organize information about the calibration preparations and steps required for each subdetector for upcoming runs.

Run 14 Calibration datasets

Calibration datasets:
  1. TPC+HFT: Cosmic rays for TPC alignment (require TPC; opportunistically include HFT subsystems)
    1. FullField (currently 17.6M recorded) [status: done]
    2. ReversedFullField (currently 3.4M recorded) [status: ongoing]
    3. HalfField  (currently 12.8M recorded) [status: done]
      • HalfField is usable data, but FullField provides much better momentum/pointing resolution
  2. HFT: Cosmic rays with magnet at ZeroField for internal HFT alignment with commissioning as far along as possible before beams appear (require PXL, IST; opportunitistically include TPC, SSD) for 6+ hours (revised down from initial 48 hours) [status: done]
    • There is interest in an additional week of cosmics at ZeroField using the HFT subsystems alone after the physics running ends this summer to help finalize HFT alignment. As no other subsystems are needed, this can proceed without much organization as long as the HFT group provides people to take shift for acquiring the data, and perhaps allow some other shutdown activities to interrupt them now and then [status: unknown]
  3. TPC+HFT: Physics runs at low luminosity (<10kHz) for TPC+HFT global alignment (TPC & all 3 HFT subsystems required)
    1. AuAu15: expecting standard physics data to suffice as calibration data, no special runs necessary [status: done]
    2. AuAu200: still in discussion, but current proposal: beams steered apart once a week, with and without magnetic field (field can be dropped mid-fill), 0.5-1.0M events within full HFT acceptance each time for a total of over 10M each (with and without mangetic field) by the end [status: unknown]
  4. TPC: Laser runs with 20k events, newly modified laser_localclock trigger setup that includes "adc" data in all events for TPC alignment
    1. FullField [status: done]
    2. ReversedFullField [status: done]
    3. ZeroField, after ramping down from FullField (hysteresis check) [status: done]
    4. ZeroField, after ramping down from ReversedFullField (hysteresis check) [status: done]
  5. TPC: Lasers interspersed in physics and/or cosmic runs every few hours for TPC drift velocity [status: ongoing]
  6. EMC2: emc-check runs with 50k events at the start of each collider fill, emc-check trigger setup, BEMC, EEMC, opportunistically include BSMD, ESMD [status: ongoing]
  7. SSD: pulser runs for gain calibrations and scanning of all A128C (require SSD, nothing else; 128 runs of 1k events to scan each channel; estimated time is less than 1 minute per run, ~1 hour for full task) [status: unknown]

Proposed strategy as of 2014-02-06 (Thursday), midday:

Towards these goals, the proposed path forward at the moment (for STAR Operations to have final say on how this gets carried out), given the expectation of beam(s) appearing in the collider this weekend:
  1. Thursday (ZeroField): Request D3: 20k of TPC lasers with laser_localclock trigger setup at ZeroField [status: done]
  2. Thursday (ZeroField): Request B: 6 hours of cosmic rays at ZeroField, including PXL, IST, and opportunistically TPC, SSD [status: done]
  3. Thursday night (FullField): Request D1: 20k of TPC lasers with laser_localclock trigger setup at FullField [status: done]
  4. Thursday night through Friday and Saturday (FullField): Request A1: cosmic rays at FullField, including TPC, and opportunistically HFT subsystems [status: done]
  5. possibly Friday or Saturday (ZeroField): if either (a) the magnet is brought down for other needs, or (b) the HFT group can determine within ~1 day from the initial 6 hours of ZeroField cosmic running that more is needed, continue Request B: cosmic rays at ZeroField, including PXL, IST, and opportunistically TPC, SSD [status: done]
  6. during beam development for AuAu15, Sunday+ (ZeroField): when the collider expects notable downtime, sufficient to bring up the TPC and HFT and bring them back down before beam activities restart, continue Request B: cosmic rays at ZeroField, including PXL, IST, and opportunistically TPC, SSD [status: done]
  7. after beam development, in a couple weeks (ReversedFullField): Request D2: 20k of TPC laser with laser_localclock trigger setup at ReversedFullField [status: done]
  8. after beam development, in a couple weeks (ReversedFullField): Request D4: 20k of TPC laser with laser_localclock trigger setup at ZeroField [status: done]
  9. during physics operations, in a few weeks, for the remainder of the operations (ReversedFullField): Request A2: cosmic rays at ReversedFullField, including TPC, and opportunistically HFT subsystems [status: ongoing]
  10. during any operations: Requests E & F: as usual [status: ongoing]

Feedback or changes to the above should be sent as soon as possible to me.
-Gene

Run 18 Calibration Datasets

 Below are the calibration dataset considerations for isobar needs in Run 18:
  • EMC
    • emc-check runs once per fill (at the start)
      • For the purpose of EMC pedestals and status tables
      • 50k events
  • TOF
    • VPD
      • Resolutions needs to be calibrated (for trigger) and confirmed to be similar for both species
  • TPC
    • Laser runs
      • For the purpose of calibrating TPC drift velocities
      • Every few hours (as usual)
      • Either dedicated laser runs, or included in physics runs
      • ~5000 laser events
    • GMT inclusion in a fraction of events
      • For the purpose of understanding fluctuations in TPC SpaceCharge
      • Trigger choice is not very important, as long as it has TPX and during most physics running
      • Something around 100-200 Hz is sufficient (too much will cause dead time issues for the trigger)
    • Vernier scans
      • For the purpose of understanding backgrounds in the TPC that may be different between species
      • Once for each species under typical operating conditions
      • 4 incremental steps of collision luminosity, each step ~1 minute long and on the order of ~50k events (total = ~4 minutes)
      • TPX, BEMC, BTOF must be included
      • Minimum bias trigger with no (or wide) vertex z cut
      • link to old study
    • Low luminosity fill IF a TPC shorted field cage ring occurs
      • Only one species needed (unimportant which)
      • Minimum bias trigger with no (or wide) vertex z cut
      • ~1M events
      • ZDC coincidence rates below 3 kHz
    • Old ALTRO thresholds run
      • For the purpose of TPC dE/dx understanding
      • Only one species needed (unimportant which)
      • ~2M events
      • Could be at the end of a fill, or any other convenient time during typical operations
    • Magnetic field flipped to A ("forward") polarity before AuAu27 data
      • For the purpose of acquiring sufficient cosmic ray data with both magnetic fields to understand alignment of new iTPC sector


-Gene

Run preparation Run VI (2006)

This page is meant to organize information about the calibration preparations and steps required for each subdetector for upcoming runs. Items with an asterisk (*) need to be completed in advance of data.

For the run in winter 2006, the plan is to take primarily pp data. This may lead to different requirements than in the past.

TPC
  • * Code development for 1 Hz scalers.
  • * Testing of T0/Twist code with pp data.
  • * Survey alignment information into DB.
  • Drift velocity from lasers into DB (automated).
  • T0 calibration as soon as data starts.
  • Twist calibration as soon as data starts (for each field).
  • SpaceCharge and GridLeak (SpaceCharge and GridLeak Calibration How-To Guide) as soon as T0/Twist calibrated (for each field).
  • Would like a field flip to identify origins of offsets in SpaceCharge vs. scalers.
  • dEdx: final calibration after run ends by sampling over the whole run period, but initial calibration can be done once TPC momentum is well-calibrated (after distortion corrections).
FTPC
  • HV calibration performed at start of data-taking.
  • Temperatures into DB (automated)
  • Rotation alignment of each FTPC done for each field (needs calibrated vertex from TPC[+SVT][+SSD]). There was concern about doing this calibration with the pp data - status???
SVT
  • Steps for pp should be the same as heavy ion runs, but more data necessary.
  • Self-alignment (to be completed January 2006)
  • Requires well-calibrated TPC.
  • Requires a few million events (a week into the run?)
  • Would like field flip to discriminate between SVT/SSD alignment vs. TPC distortions.
SSD
  • * Code development in progress (status???)
  • Requires well-calibrated TPC.
EEMC
  • EEMC initial setting & monitoring during data taking relies on prompt and fully automatic muDst EzTree production for all minias-only fast-only runs. Assume fast offline muDst exist on disk for 1 week.
  • Initial settings for HV: 500k minbias fast-triggered events will give slopes necessary to adjust relative gans. Same 60 GeV E_T maximum scale as in previous years.
  • Pedestals from 5k minbias events, once per fill.
  • Stability of towers from one 200k minbias run per fill.
  • Highly prescaled minbias and zerobias events in every run for "general monitoring" (e.g. correlated pedestal shift)
  • Offline calibrations unnecessary for production (can be done on the MuDst level).
  • "Basic" offline calibration from MIP response in 5M minbias fast events (taken a few weeks into the run)
  • "Final" offline calibration from pi0 (or other TBD) signal requires "huge" statistics of EHT and EJP triggers to do tower-by-tower (will need the full final dataset).
  • * Calibration codes exist, but are scattered. Need to be put in CVS with consistent paths and filenames.
BEMC
  • * LED runs to set HV for 60 GeV E_T maximum, changed from previous years (status???).
  • Online HV calibration from 300k minbias events (eta ring by eta ring) - requires "full TPC reconstruction".
  • MuDsts from calibration runs feedback to run settings (status???).
  • Pedestals from low multiplicity events from the event pool every 24 hours.
  • Offline calibrations unnecessary for production (can be done on the MuDst level).
  • "Final" offline tower-by-tower calibration from MIPs and electrons using several million events.
TOF
  • upVPD upgrade (coming in March 2006) for better efficiency and start resolution
  • Need TPC momentum calibrated first.
  • Requires several million events, less with upVPD (wait for upVPD???)

Run preparation Run VII

There is some question as to whether certain tasks need to be done this year because the detector was not moved during the shutdown period. Omitting such tasks should be justified before skipping!

TPC
  • Survey alignment information into DB (appears to be no survey data for TPC this this year)
  • High stats check of laser drift velocity calibration once there's gas in the TPC: 30k laser events with and without B field.
  • Check of reversed GG cable on sector 8 (lasers) once there's gas in the TPC: same laser run as above
  • Drift velocity from laser runs (laser runs taken once every 3-4 hours, ~2-3k events, entire run) into DB (automated); check that it's working
  • T0 calibration, new method from laser runs (same laser runs as above).
  • Twist calibration as soon as data starts: ~100k events, preferrably central/high multiplicity, near start of running for each field
  • SpaceCharge and GridLeak (SpaceCharge and GridLeak Calibration How-To Guide) as soon as T0/Twist calibrated: ~100k events from various luminosities, for each field.
  • BBC scaler study for correlation with azimuthally asymmetric backgrounds in TPC: needs several days of generic data.
  • Zerobias run with fast detectors to study short time scale fluctuations in luminosity (relevant for ionization distortions): needs a couple minutes of sequential, high rate events taken at any time.
  • Need a field flip to identify origins of offsets in SpaceCharge vs. scalers as well as disentangling TPC distortions from silicon alignment.
  • dEdx: final calibration after run ends by sampling over the whole run period, but initial calibration can be done once TPC momentum is well-calibrated (after distortion corrections).
FTPC
  • HV calibration performed at start of data-taking (special HV runs).
  • Temperatures into DB (automated)
  • Rotation alignment of each FTPC done for each field (needs calibrated vertex from TPC[+SVT][+SSD]): generic collision data
SSD
  • Pulser runs (for initial gains and alive status?)
  • Initial alignment can be done using roughly-calibrated TPC: ~100k minbias events.
  • P/N Gain-matching (any special run requirements?)
  • Alignment, needs fully-calibrated TPC: 250k minbias events from one low luminosity (low TPC distortions/background/occupancy/pile-up) fill, for each field, +/-30cm vertex constraint; collision rate preferrably below 1kHz.
SVT
  • Temp oscillation check with lasers: generic data once triggers are set.
  • Initial alignment can be done using roughly-calibrated TPC+SSD: ~100k minbias events.
  • Alignment, needs fully-calibrated TPC: 250k minbias events from one low luminosity fill (see SSD).
  • End-point T0 + drift velocity, needs fully-calibrated SSD+TPC: same low luminosity runs for initial values, watched during rest of run.
  • Gains: same low luminosity runs.
EEMC
  • Timing scan of all crates: few hours of beam time, ~6 minb-fast runs (5 minutes each) for TCD phase of all towers crates, another 6 minbias runs for the timing of the MAPMT crates, 2 days analysis
  • EEMC initial setting & monitoring during data taking: requests to process specific data will be made as needed during the run.
  • Initial settings for HV: 200k minbias fast-triggered events will give slopes necessary to adjust relative gans, 2 days analysis
  • Pedestals (for offline DB) from 5k minbias events, once per 5 hours
  • Stability of towers from one 200k minbias-fast run per fill
  • "General monitoring" (e.g. correlated pedestal shift) from highly prescaled minbias and zerobias events in every run.
  • Beam background monitoring from highly prescaled EEMC-triggered events with TPC for at the beginning of each fill.
  • Expect commissioning of triggers using EMC after one week of collisions
  • Offline calibrations unnecessary for production (can be done on the MuDst level).
  • "Basic" offline calibration from MIP response in 5M minbias fast events taken a few weeks into the run
  • "Final" offline calibration from pi0 (or other TBD) signal requires "huge" statistics of EHT and EJP triggers to do tower-by-tower (still undone for previous runs).
  • Calibration codes exist, but are scattered. Need to be put in CVS with consistent paths and filenames (status?)
BEMC
  • Timing scan of all crates
  • Online HV calibration of towers - do for outliers and new PMTs/crates; needed for EMC triggering. Needs~5 minutes of minbias fast-triggered events (eta ring by eta ring) at beginning of running (once a day for a few days) - same runs as for EEMC.
  • Online HV calibration of preshower - matching slopes. Not done before, will piggyback off other datasets.
  • Pedestals from low multiplicity events from the event pool every 24 hours.
  • Offline calibrations unnecessary for production (can be done on the MuDst level).
  • "Final" offline tower-by-tower calibration from MIPs and electrons using several million events
upVPD/TOF
  • upVPD (calibration?)
  • No TOF this year.

preparation Run VIII (2008)

This page is meant to organize information about the calibration preparations and steps required for each subdetector for upcoming runs.

Previous runs:

 


Red means that nothing has been done for this (yet), or that this needs to continue through the run.
Blue means that the data has been taken, but the calibration task is not completed yet.
Black indicates nothing (more) remaining to be done for this task.

 

TPC
  • Survey alignment information into DB (appears to be no survey data for TPC this this year)
  • Drift velocity from laser runs (laser runs taken once every 3-4 hours, ~2-3k events, entire run) into DB (automated); check that it's working
  • T0 calibration, using vertex-matching (~500k events, preferably high multiplicity, once triggers are in place).
  • Twist calibration as soon as data starts: same data
  • SpaceCharge and GridLeak (SpaceCharge and GridLeak Calibration How-To Guide) as soon as T0/Twist calibrated: ~500k events from various luminosities, for each field.
  • BBC scaler study for correlation with azimuthally asymmetric backgrounds in TPC: needs several days of generic data.
  • Zerobias run with fast detectors to study short time scale fluctuations in luminosity (relevant for ionization distortions): needs a couple minutes of sequential, high rate events taken at any time.
  • dEdx: final calibration after run ends by sampling over the whole run period, but initial calibration can be done once TPC momentum is well-calibrated (after distortion corrections).
TPX
???
FTPC
  • HV calibration performed at start of data-taking (special HV runs).
  • Temperatures into DB (automated)
  • Rotation alignment of each FTPC done for each field (needs calibrated vertex from TPC[+SVT][+SSD]): generic collision data
EEMC
  • Timing scan of all crates: few hours of beam time, ~6 fast runs (5 minutes each) for TCD phase of all towers crates
  • EEMC initial setting & monitoring during data taking: requests to process specific data will be made as needed during the run.
  • Initial settings for HV: 500k minbias fast-triggered events will give slopes necessary to adjust relative gans, 2 days analysis
  • Pedestals (for offline DB) from 5k minbias events, once per fill
  • "General monitoring" (e.g. correlated pedestal shift) from highly prescaled minbias and zerobias events in every run.
  • Beam background monitoring from highly prescaled EEMC-triggered events with TPC for at the beginning of each fill.
  • Expect commissioning of triggers using EMC after one week of collisions
  • Offline calibrations unnecessary for production (can be done on the MuDst level).
  • "Basic" offline calibration from MIP response in 5M minbias fast events taken a few weeks into the run
  • "Final" offline calibration from pi0 (or other TBD) signal requires "huge" statistics of EHT and EJP triggers to do tower-by-tower.
  • Calibration codes exist, but are scattered. Need to be put in CVS with consistent paths and filenames (status?)
BEMC
  • Timing scan of all crates
  • Online HV calibration of towers - do for outliers and new PMTs/crates; needed for EMC triggering. Needs~5 minutes of minbias fast-triggered events (eta ring by eta ring) at beginning of running (once a day for a few days) - same runs as for EEMC.
  • Online HV calibration of preshower - matching slopes. (same data).
  • Pedestals from low multiplicity events from the event pool every 24 hours.
  • Offline calibrations unnecessary for production (can be done on the MuDst level).
  • "Final" offline tower-by-tower calibration from MIPs and electrons using several million events
PMD
  • Hot Cells (~100k generic events from every few days?)
  • Cell-by-cell gains (same data)
  • SM-by-SM gains (same data)
VPD/TOF
  • T-TOT (~3M TOF-triggered events)
  • T-Z (same data)