PHENIX Detector Overview

K. Adcox,45 S. S. Adler,4 M. Aizama,44 N. N. Ajitanand,31

Y. Akiba,16 H. Akikawa,19 J. Alexander,31 A. Al-Jamel,30
M. Allen,41 G. Alley,33 R. Amirikas,11 L. Aphecetche,39
Y. Arai,16 J. B. Archuleta,22 J. R. Archuleta,22 R. Armendariz,30
V. Armijo,22 S. H. Aronson,4 D. Autrey,21 R. Averbeck,32
T. C. Awes,33 B. Azmoun,32 A. Baldisseri,54 J. Banning,33
K. N. Barish,6 A. B. Barker,1 P. D. Barnes,22 J. Barrette,24
F. Barta,4 B. Bassalleck,29 S. Bathe,26 S. Batsouli,9
V. V. Baublis,34 A. Bazilevsky,14,37 R. Begay,32 J. Behrendt,29
S. Belikov,10,15 R. Belkin,4 F. G. Bellaiche,33 S. T. Belyaev,18
M. J. Bennett,22 Y. Berdnikov,40 S. Bhaganatula,15 J. C. Biggs,4
A. W. Bland,1 C. Blume,26 M. Bobrek,33 J. G. Boissevain,22
S. Boose,4 H. Borel,54 D. Borland,45 E. Bosze,6 S. Botelho,38
J. Bowers,21 C. Britton,33 L. Britton,33 M. L. Brooks,22
A. W. Brown,1 D. S. Brown,30 N. Bruner,29 W. L. Bryan,33
D. Bucher,26 H. Buesching,26 V. Bumazhnov,14 G. Bunce,4,37
J. Burward-Hoy,32 S. A. Butsyk,32,34 M. M. Cafferty,22
T. A. Carey,22 J. S. Chai,50 P. Chand,3 J. Chang,6
W. C. Chang,2 R. B. Chappell,11 L. L. Chavez,29
S. Chernichenko,14 C. Y. Chi,9 J. Chiba,16 M. Chiu,9
S. Chollet,52 R. K. Choudhury,3 T. Christ,32 T. Chujo,4,44
M. S. Chung,17,22 P. Chung,31 V. Cianciolo,33 D. J. Clark,22
Y. Cobigo,54 B. A. Cole,9 P. Constantin,15 R. Conway,22
K. C. Cook,15 D. W. Crook,11 H. Cunitz,9 R. Cunningham,22
M. Cutshaw,33 D. G. D’Enterria,39 C. M. Dabrowski,4
G. Danby,4 S. Daniels,33 A. Danmura,44 G. David,4
A. Debraine,52 H. Delagrange,39 J. DeMoss,29 A. Denisov,14
A. Deshpande,37 E. J. Desmond,4 O. Dietzsch,38 B. V. Dinesh,3
J. L. Drachenberg,1 O. Drapier,52 A. Drees,32 R. du Rietz,23
A. Durum,14 D. Dutta,3 K. Ebisu,28 M. A. Echave,22
Y. V. Efremenko,33 K. El Chenawi,45 M. S. Emery,33 D. Engo,4
A. Enokizono,13 K. Enosawa,44 H. En’yo,19,36 N. Ericson,33
 S. Esumi,44 V. A. Evseev,34 L. Ewell,4 O. Fackler,21
J. Fellenstein,45 T. Ferdousi,6 J. Ferrierra,32 D. E. Fields,29
F. Fleuret,52 S. L. Fokin,18 B. Fox,37 Z. Fraenkel,47 S. Frank,33
A. Franz,4 J. E. Frantz,9 A. D. Frawley,11 J. Fried,4
J. P. Freidberg,25 E. Fujisawa,42 H. Funahashi,19 S. -Y. Fung,6
S. Gadrat,53 J. Gannon,4 S. Garpman,23 F. Gastaldi,52
T. F. Gee,33 R. Gentry,33 T. K. Ghosh,45 P. Giannotti,4
A. Glenn,41 A. L. Godoi,38 M. Gonin,52 G. Gogiberidze,41
J. Gosset,54 Y. Goto,37 R. Granier de Cassagnac,52
S. V. Greene,45 V. Griffin,11 M. Grosse Perdekamp,37
S. K. Gupta,3 W. Guryn,4 H. -Å. Gustafsson,23 T. Hachiya,13
J. S. Haggerty,4 S. Hahn,22 J. Halliwell,33 H. Hamagaki,8
R. H. Hance,1 A. G. Hansen,22 H. Hara,28 J. Harder,4
G. W. Hart,22 E. P. Hartouni,21 A. Harvey,21 L. Hawkins,4
R. S. Hayano,43 H. Hayashi,44 N. Hayashi,36 X. He,12 N. Heine,26
F. Heistermann,4 S. Held,41 T. K. Hemmick,32 J. M. Heuser,32
M. Hibino,46 J. S. Hicks,33 R. Higuchi,44 J. C. Hill,15
T. Hirano,44 D. S. Ho,48 R. Hoade,4 W. Holzmann,31
K. Homma,13 B. Hong,17 A. Hoover,30 C. T. Hunter,1
D. E. Hurst,33 R. Hutter,32 T. Ichihara,36,37 V. V. Ikonnikov,18
K. Imai,19,36 M. Inaba,44 M. S. Ippolitov,18 L. Davis Isenhower,1
L. Donald Isenhower,1 M. Ishihara,36,37 M. Issah,31
V. I. Ivanov,34 B. V. Jacak,32,37 G. Jackson,33 J. Jackson,4
D. Jaffe,33 U. Jagadish,33 W. Y. Jang,17 R. Jayakumar,25
J. Jia,32 B. M. Johnson,4 J. Johnson,33 S. C. Johnson,21,32
J. P. Jones,33 K. Jones,4 K. S. Joo,27 D. Jouan,51 S. Kahn,4
F. Kajihara,8 S. Kametani,46 Y. Kamyshkov,33,41
A. Kandasamy,4 J. H. Kang,48 M. R. Kann,34 S. S. Kapoor,3
J. Kapustinsky,22 K. V. Karadjev,18 V. Kashikhin,10 S. Kato,44
K. Katou,46 H. -J. Kehayias,4 M. A. Kelley,4 S. Kelly,9
M. Kennedy,11 B. Khachaturov,47 A. V. Khanzadeev,34
A. Khomutnikov,40 J. Kikuchi,46 D. J. Kim,48 D. -W. Kim,49
G. -B. Kim,52 H. J. Kim,48 S. Y. Kim,48 Y. G. Kim,48
W. W. Kinnison,22 E. Kistenev,4 A. Kiyomichi,44
C. Klein-Boesing,26 S. Klinksiek,29 L. Kluberg,52

2
 H. Kobayashi,37 V. Kochetkov,14 D. Koehler,29 T. Kohama,13
B. G. Komkov,34 M. L. Kopytine,32 K. Koseki,44
L. Kotchenda,34,35 D. Kotchetkov,6 Iou. A. Koutcheryaev,18
A. Kozlov,47 V. S. Kozlov,34 P. A. Kravtsov,34 P. J. Kroon,4
C. H. Kuberg,1 L. G. Kudin,34 M. Kurata-Nishimura,44
V. V. Kuriatkov,34 K. Kurita,36,37 Y. Kuroki,44 M. J. Kweon,17
Y. Kwon,48 G. S. Kyle,30 J. J. LaBounty,4 R. Lacey,31
J. G. Lajoie,15 J. Lauret,31 A. Lebedev,15 V. A. Lebedev,18
V. D. Lebedev,34 D. M. Lee,22 S. Lee,49 M. J. Leitch,22 M. Lenz,4
W. Lenz,4 X. H. Li,6 Z. Li,7,36 B. Libby,15 M. Libkind,21
W. Liccardi,4 D. J. Lim,48 S. Lin,4 M. X. Liu,22 X. Liu,7
Y. Liu,51 Z. Liu,7 E. Lockner,29 N. Longbotham,1 J. D. Lopez,22
R. Machnowski,4 C. F. Maguire,45 J. Mahon,4 Y. I. Makdisi,4
V. I. Manko,18 Y. Mao,7,36 S. Marino,4 S. K. Mark,24
S. Markacs,9 D. G. Markushin,34 G. Martinez,39
X. B. Martinez,22 M. D. Marx,32 A. Masaike,19 F. Matathias,32
T. Matsumoto,8,46 P. L. McGaughey,22 M. C. McCain,1
J. Mead,4 E. Melnikov,14 Y. Melnikov,14 W. Z. Meng,4
M. Merschmeyer,26 F. Messer,32 M. Messer,4 Y. Miake,44
N. M. Miftakhov,34 S. Migluolio,25 J. Milan,31 T. E. Miller,45
A. Milov,47 K. Minuzzo,21 S. Mioduszewski,4,41 R. E. Mischke,22
G. C. Mishra,12 J. T. Mitchell,4 Y. Miyamoto,44 A. K. Mohanty,3
B. C. Montoya,22 A. Moore,33 T. Moore,33 D. P. Morrison,4
G. G. Moscone,33 J. M. Moss,22 F. Mühlbacher,32
M. Muniruzzaman,6 J. Murata,36 M. M. Murray,22
M. Musrock,33 S. Nagamiya,16 Y. Nagasaka,28 J. L. Nagle,9
Y. Nakada,19 T. Nakamura,13 B. K. Nandi,6 J. Negrin,4
J. Newby,41 L. Nikkinen,24 S. A. Nikolaev,18 P. Nilsson,23
S. Nishimura,8 A. S. Nyanin,18 J. Nystrand,23 E. O’Brien,4
P. O’Conner,4 F. Obenshain,33 C. A. Ogilvie,15 H. Ohnishi,4,13
I. D. Ojha,5,45 M. Ono,44 V. Onuchin,14 A. Oskarsson,23
L. Österman,23 I. Otterlund,23 K. Oyama,8,43 L. Paffrath,4,∗
A. P. T. Palounek,22 C. E. Pancake,32 V. S. Pantuev,32
V. Papavassiliou,30 S. F. Pate,30 T. Peitzmann,26 R. Petersen,21
A. N. Petridis,15 C. H. Pinkenburg,4,31 R. P. Pisani,4

3
 P. Pitukhin,14 T. Plagge,15 F. Plasil,33 M. Pollack,32,41
K. Pope,41 R. Prigl,4 M. L. Purschke,4 A. K. Purwar,32
J. M. Qualls,1 S. Rankowitz,4 G. Rao,33 R. Rao,33 M. Rau,4
I. Ravinovich,47 R. Raynis,4 K. F. Read,33,41 K. Reygers,26
G. Riabov,34 V. G. Riabov,34,40 Yu. G. Riabov,34
S. H. Robinson,22 G. Roche,53 A. Romana,52 M. Rosati,15
E. V. Roschin,34 A. A. Rose,45 P. Rosnet,53 R. Roth,22
R. Ruggiero,4 S. S. Ryu,48 N. Saito,36,37 A. Sakaguchi,13
T. Sakaguchi,8,46 S. Sakai,44 H. Sako,44 T. Sakuma,36,42
S. Salomone,32 V. M. Samsonov,34 W. F. Sandhoff, Jr.,4
L. Sanfratello,29 T. C. Sangster,21 R. Santo,26 H. D. Sato,19,36
S. Sato,44 R. Savino,4 S. Sawada,16 B. R. Schlei,22
R. Schleuter,20 Y. Schutz,39 M. Sekimoto,16 V. Semenov,14
R. Seto,6 Y. Severgin,10 A. Shajii,25 V. Shangin,10 M. R. Shaw,1
T. K. Shea,4 I. Shein,14 V. Shelikhov,14 T. -A. Shibata,36,42
K. Shigaki,16 T. Shiina,22 T. Shimada,44 Y. H. Shin,48
I. G. Sibiriak,18 D. Silvermyr,23 K. S. Sim,17 J. Simon-Gillo,22
M. Simpson,33 C. P. Singh,5 V. Singh,5 W. Sippach,9
M. Sivertz,4 H. D. Skank,15 S. Skutnik,15 G. A. Sleege,15
D. C. Smith,33 G. D. Smith,22 M. Smith,33 A. Soldatov,14
G. P. Solodov,34 R. A. Soltz,21 W. E. Sondheim,22
S. Sorensen,33,41 I. Sourikova,4 F. Staley,54 P. W. Stankus,33
N. Starinsky,24 S. Steffens,41 E. M. Stein,4 P. Steinberg,9
E. Stenlund,23 M. Stepanov,30 A. Ster,55 J. Stewering,26
W. Stokes,4 S. P. Stoll,4 M. Sugioka,36,42 T. Sugitate,13
J. P. Sullivan,22 Y. Sumi,13 Z. Sun,7 M. Suzuki-Nara,44
E. M. Takagui,38 A. Taketani,36 M. Tamai,46 K. H. Tanaka,16
Y. Tanaka,28 E. Taniguchi,36,42 M. J. Tannenbaum,4
V. I. Tarakanov,34 O. P. Tarasenkova,34 J. D. Tepe,1 R. Thern,4
J. H. Thomas,21 J. L. Thomas,32 T. L. Thomas,29
W. D. Thomas,15 G. W. Thornton,22 W. Tian,7,41 R. Todd,33
J. Tojo,19,36 F. Toldo,4 H. Torii,19,36 R. S. Towell,1,22
J. Tradeski,4 V. A. Trofimov,34 I. Tserruya,47 H. Tsuruoka,44
A. A. Tsvetkov,18 S. K. Tuli,5 G. Turner,33 H. Tydesjö,23
N. Tyurin,14 S. Urasawa,44 A. Usachev,14 T. Ushiroda,28

4
H. W. van Hecke,22 M. Van Lith,4 A. A. Vasiliev,18 V. Vasiliev,10
M. Vassent,53 C. Velissaris,30 J. Velkovska,32 M. Velkovsky,32
W. Verhoeven,26 L. Villatte,41 A. A. Vinogradov,18
V. I. Vishnevskii,34 M. A. Volkov,18 W. Von Achen,4
A. A. Vorobyov,34 E. A. Vznuzdaev,34 M. Vznuzdaev,34
J. W. Walker,33 Y. Wan,7 H. Q. Wang,6 S. Wang,11
Y. Watanabe,36,37 L. C. Watkins,33 T. Weimer,15 S. N. White,4
B. R. Whitus,33 C. Williams,33 P. S. Willis,1 A. L. Wintenberg,33
C. Witzig,4 F. K. Wohn,15 K. Wolniewicz,4
B. G. Wong-Swanson,22 L. Wood,15 C. L. Woody,4
L. W. Wright,11 J. Wu,32 W. Xie,6,47 N. Xu,41 K. Yagi,44
R. Yamamoto,21 Y. Yang,4,7 S. Yokkaichi,36 Y. Yokota,44
S. Yoneyama,42 G. R. Young,33 I. E. Yushmanov,18 W. A. Zajc,9
C. Zhang,9 L. Zhang,9 Z. Zhang,32 S. Zhou7
(The PHENIX Collaboration)
1 Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX 79699, USA
2 Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
3 Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay 400 085, India
4 Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973-5000, USA
5 Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India
6 University of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
7 China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE), Beijing, People’s Republic of China
8 Center for Nuclear Study, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1

Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan

9 Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 and Nevis Laboratories, Irvington,

NY 10533, USA
10 Efremov Institute for Electrophysical Research, St. Petersburg, Russia
11 Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
12 Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
13 Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
14 Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEP), Protvino, Russia
15 Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
16 KEK, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken

305-0801, Japan
17 Korea University, Seoul, 136-701, Korea
18 Russian Research Center ”Kurchatov Institute”, Moscow, Russia
19 Kyoto University, Kyoto 606, Japan
20 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
21 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
22 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
23 Department of Physics, Lund University, Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

5
 24 McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T8, Canada
25 Plasma Science and Fusion, Center Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
26 Institut für Kernphysik, University of Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany
27 Myongji University, Yongin, Kyonggido 449-728, Korea
28 Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science, Nagasaki-shi, Nagasaki 851-0193, Japan
29 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
30 New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA
31 Chemistry Department, State University of New York - Stony Brook, Stony

Brook, NY 11794, USA

32 Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York - Stony

Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA

33 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA
34 PNPI, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Gatchina, Russia
35 State Interphysica, Protvino, Russia
36 RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), Wako, Saitama

351-0198, Japan
37 RIKEN BNL Research Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY

11973-5000, USA
38 Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de F ísica, Caixa Postal 66318, São Paulo

CEP05315-970, Brazil
39 SUBATECH (Ecole des Mines de Nantes, IN2P3/CNRS, Universite de Nantes)

BP 20722 - 44307, Nantes-cedex 3, France

40 St. Petersburg State Technical University, St. Petersburg, Russia
41 University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
42 Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8551, Japan
43 University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
44 Institute of Physics, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan
45 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
46 Waseda University, Advanced Research Institute for Science and Engineering, 17

Kikui-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0044, Japan

47 Weizmann Institute, Rehovot 76100, Israel
48 Yonsei University, IPAP, Seoul 120-749, Korea
49 Kangnung National University, Kangnung, 210-702, Korea
50 C.A.L., Korea Cancer Hospital, Seoul, 139-706, Korea
51 I.P.N., BP 1, 91406 Orsay, France
52 L.L.R., Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
53 L.P.C., Universite Blaise Pascal, 63177 Aubiere Cedex, France
54 DSM/Dapnia/SPhN, CEA/Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
55 Individual Participant: KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear

Physics (RMKI), Budapest, Hungary

6
 The PHENIX detector is designed to perform a broad study of A-A,
p-A, and p-p collisions to investigate nuclear matter under extreme
conditions. A wide variety of probes, sensitive to all timescales, are
used to study systematic variations with species and energy as well
as to measure the spin structure of the nucleon. Designing for the
needs of the heavy-ion and polarized-proton programs has produced
a detector with unparalleled capabilities. PHENIX measures elec-
tron and muon pairs, photons, and hadrons with excellent energy
and momentum resolution. The detector consists of a large num-
ber of subsystems that are discussed in other papers in this volume.
The overall design parameters of the detector are presented.

1 Introduction

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Labora-

tory accelerates nuclear beams from protons to gold. For the heaviest beams an
energy of 100 GeV/nucleon is reached. Four detectors, BRAHMS, PHENIX,
PHOBOS and STAR, are operating to study collisions ranging from p-p to Au-
Au. The Pioneering High Energy Nuclear Interaction eXperiment (PHENIX)
is carried out by a collaboration of about 500 physicists and engineers from
54 participating institutions in 13 countries [1]. Fig.1 shows a subset of the
Collaboration standing in front of parts of the PHENIX detector.

The PHENIX experiment probes several fundamental features of the strong

interaction. A prime goal for experiments with heavy ion beams is to produce
a deconfined state of nuclear matter called the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP)
and study it’s properties. This is thought to be the state of the universe a
µs after its birth in the “big bang”. Measuring leptons and photons probes
the QGP phase directly, while studying the copiously produced hadrons gives
information on the later hadronization of the QGP. RHIC also provides the
opportunity to study collisions of polarized protons. The aim is to measure
the spin structure of the nucleon [2].

In order to carry out this broad physics agenda the PHENIX detector utilizes
a variety of detector technologies. It uses global detectors to characterize the
collisions, a pair of central spectrometers at mid rapidity to measure electrons,
hadrons, and photons, and a pair of forward spectrometers to measure muons.
Each spectrometer has a large geometric acceptance of about one steradian
and excellent energy and momentum resolution and particle identification.

7
Fig. 1. Members of the PHENIX collaboration in front of the PHENIX detector.

2 Physics Goals of PHENIX

Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) predicts that heavy nuclei colliding at ul-

trarelativistic energies will undergo a phase transition from hadronic matter
to a deconfined state of quarks and gluons moving freely over a volume ap-
proximately 10f m3 , namely the QGP.

This process can be thought of as proceeding throught a series of steps from the
initial collision through QGP formation (deconfinement) and possible chiral
symmetry restoration. The QGP would thermalize followed by expansion and
cooling leading to hadronization. PHENIX is able to probe each phase of
the above process by virtue of its ability to study the rare processes involving
photons, electrons and muons as well as the predominant hadronic production.
The experiment has a high rate capability and fine granularity combined with
excellent momentum, energy and mass resolution.

Direct photons and lepton pairs which emerge from the collision with a mini-
mum of final state interaction are sensitive to the full time evolution from the
initial state through thermalization. The capability to measure direct photons
over a wide range of pT is unique to PHENIX and is important for relating
their momentum to the temperature of the emitting source.

8
Jets from the hard scattering of constituent quarks and gluons are produced
in the initial state and are sensitive to the properties of the medium during
the evolution so that a significant modification of the structure of the jet is
expected if a QGP is formed. PHENIX studies the deconfined state and Debye
screening by observing the yields of the J/Ψ and Ψ0 relative to that of the Υ.
Chiral symmetry restoration is predicted to result in the reduction of quark
masses and possible changes in the lifetime and width of the φ and possibly
the ρ and ω. All of the above vector mesons are studied by observation of their
decays into lepton pairs.

After hadronization the expansion of the fireball is studied by measurement

of Hanbury-Brown-Twiss correlations and the coalescence probabilities of var-
ious nuclei and anti-nuclei give insights into the space-time evolution of the
collision. Precision time of flight (ToF) allows measurement of the identified
charged hadron spectrum over a wide pT range. Many of the above signals can
also be produced from interactions between particles in hot hadronic matter.
It is thus necessary to understand the purely hadronic effects. For this rea-
son PHENIX studies the above signals using p-p and p-A collisions to gain a
better understanding of effects distorting signals from the QGP.

A second major goal of the PHENIX experiment is to measure the spin struc-
ture of the nucleon. RHIC accelerates beams of polarized protons up to 250
GeV with polarizations up to 50%. Work of the EMC [3] collaboration and
others indicated that the fraction of the proton spin carried by the quarks was
only about half of the expected value. PHENIX studies the gluon polarization
by measuring high pT prompt photon production using the highly segmented
EM Calorimeter to minimize interference from photons from π 0 decays. The
anti-quark polarization is measured by observing the parity violating asym-
metry for W production. The W particles are identified by the detection of
muons or electrons with pT ≥ 20GeV /c using the PHENIX north and south
muon arms or the central spectrometer, respectively.

3 PHENIX Detector Subsystems

The PHENIX detector comprises four instrumented spectrometers or arms and

three global detectors [4]. The detector consists of a number of subsystems.
The rapidity and φ coverages and other features of these subsystems is given
in Table 1 and a perspective drawing of the PHENIX detector with the major
subsystems labeled is shown in Fig.2. Also an overview of the subsystems is
given below. The east and west central arms are centered at zero rapidity and
instrumented to detect electrons, photons and charged hadrons. The north
and south forward arms have full azimuthal coverage and are instrumented to
detect muons. Each of the four arms has a geometric acceptance of approxi-

9
Fig. 2. A cutaway drawing of the PHENIX detector. Labeled arrows point to the
major detector subsystems.

mately one steradian. The global detectors measure the start time, vertex and
multiplicity of the interactions. A photograph of the PHENIX detector from
above is shown in Fig.3.

3.1 Global Detectors

In order to characterize the nature of an event following a heavy ion collision,

three global detectors are employed. They consist of Zero-Degree Calorimeters
(ZDC), Beam- Beam Counters (BBC) and the Multiplicity-Vertex Detector
(MVD). A pair of ZDC’s [5] detect neutrons from grazing collisions and form
a trigger for the most peripheral collisions. The ZDC is used by all four RHIC
detectors and is discussed elsewhere in this volume [6]. A pair of BBCs [7]
provide a measure of the time-of-flight of forward particles to determine the
time of a collision, provide a trigger for the more central collisions and provide
a measure of the collision position along the beam axis. The MVD [7] provides

10
Fig. 3. Photograph of the PHENIX detector viewed from north to south. The central
arms are visible on the right (west) and east (left) sides. In the back the south muon
magnet and the muon identifier detectors are visible

a more precise determination of event position and multiplicity and measures

fluctuations of the charged particle distributions. It is composed of concentric
barrels of silicon-strip detectors and endcaps made of silicon pads. Recently a
Normalization Trigger Counter (NTC) [7] has been added between the MVD
endcaps and the central magnet pole tips. The NTC extends the coverage of
the BBC for p-p and p-A running.

3.2 Central Spectrometers

The magnetic field for the central spectrometer is supplied by the central
magnet [8] that provides an axial field parallel to the beam and around the
interaction vertex. The central arms consist of tracking systems for charged
particles and electromagnetic calorimetry. The calorimeter [9] is the outermost
subsystem on the central arms and provides measurements of both photons
and energetic electrons. A lead-scintillator (PbSc) calorimeter is used for good
timing and a lead-glass (PbGl) calorimeter gives good energy resolution.

The tracking system uses three sets of Pad Chambers (PC) [10] to provide
precise three-dimensional space points needed for pattern recognization. The

11
Table 1
Summary of the PHENIX Detector Subsystems.

Element ∆η ∆φ Purpose and Special Features

Magnet: central (CM) ±0.35 360◦ Up to 1.15 T·m.
muon (MMS) -1.1 to -2.2 360◦ 0.72 T·m for η = 2
muon (MMN) 1.1 to 2.4 360◦ 0.72 T·m for η = 2
Silicon (MVD) ±2.6 360◦ d2 N/dηdφ, precise vertex,
reaction plane determination
Beam-beam (BBC) ±(3.1 to 3.9) 360◦ Start timing, fast vertex.
NTC ±(1 to 2) 320◦ Extend coverage of BBC for p-p and p-A.
ZDC ±2 mrad 360◦ Minimum bias trigger.
Drift chambers (DC) ±0.35 90◦ ×2 Good momentum and mass resolution,
∆m/m = 0.4% at m = 1GeV.
Pad chambers (PC) ±0.35 90◦ ×2 Pattern recognition, tracking
for nonbend direction.
TEC ±0.35 90◦ Pattern recognition, dE/dx.
RICH ±0.35 90◦ ×2 Electron identification.
ToF ±0.35 45◦ Good hadron identification, σ <100 ps.
T0 ±0.35 45◦ Improve ToF timing for p-p and p-A.
PbSc EMCal ±0.35 90◦ +45◦ For both calorimeters, photon and electron
detection.
PbGl EMCal ±0.35 45◦ Good e± /π ± separation at p > 1 GeV/c by
EM shower and p < 0.35 GeV/c by ToF.
K ± /π ± separation up to 1 GeV/c by ToF.
µ tracker: (µTS) -1.15 to -2.25 360◦ Tracking for muons.
(µTN) 1.15 to 2.44 360◦ Muon tracker north installed for year-3
µ identifier: (µIDS) -1.15 to -2.25 360 ◦ Steel absorbers and Iarocci tubes for
(µIDN) 1.15 to 2.44 360◦ muon/hadron separation.

precise projective tracking of the Drift Chambers (DC) [10] is the basis of
the excellent momentum resolution. A Time Expansion Chamber (TEC) [10]
in the east arm provides additional tracking and particle identification. The
Time-of-Flight (ToF) and Ring-Imaging CHerenkov (RICH) detectors also
provide particle identification [11]. The 85 ps timing resolution of the ToF al-

12
lows separation of kaons from pions up to 2.5 GeV/c and proton identification
out to 5 Gev/c. For p-p running the ToF timing resolution would be poorer
than for heavy ions due to a reduced number of particles in the BBC. The ToF
timing is improved by the use of a T0 counter [11] outside the barrel of the
MVD. This is needed for p-p and p-A experiments. The RICH provides sepa-
ration of electrons from the large number of copiously produced pions. Using
information from the RICH, the TEC and the electromagnetic calorimeter it
is possible to reject pion contamination of identified electrons to one part in
104 over a wide range of momentum.

3.3 Muon Spectrometers

The two forward muon spectrometers [12] give PHENIX acceptance for J/Ψ
decaying into dimuons at rapidities of −2.25 ≤ y ≤ −1.15 for the south arm
and 1.15 ≤ y ≤ 2.44 for the north arm. Each spectrometer is based on a muon
tracker inside a radial magnetic field [8] followed by a muon identifier, both
with full azimuthal acceptance. The muon trackers consist of three stations of
multi-plane drift chambers that provide precision tracking. The muon identi-
fiers consist of alternating layers of steel absorbers and low resolution tracking
layers of streamer tubes of the Iarocci type. With this combination the pion
contamination of identified muons is typically 3 × 10−3 . The complete north
arm will be installed prior to the year-3 PHENIX run.

3.4 Electronics and Computing

PHENIX selects and archives events of potential physics interest at the max-
imum rate consistent with the available RHIC luminosity. The channel count
for the PHENIX detector is large and details for the various subdetectors is
given in Table2. Note that for some subsystems two ADCs are required per
channel to get the needed dynamic range. In order to obtain a high data-
collection efficiency a high degree of coordination between the electronics and
computing efforts is required. Custom Front-End Electronics (FEE) were de-
signed for the PHENIX subsystems. Signals from the FEEs [13] are trans-
ported by optical fibers to the level-1 trigger [13] that processes signals from a
number of subsystems and then either accepts or rejects the event. The trigger
operates in a synchronous pipelined mode with a latency of 40 beam cross-
ings, and thus generates a decision for each crossing. The timing of the above
operations is coordinated by a master timing system [13] that distributes the
RHIC clocks to granule timing modules that communicate with the FEEs.

In order to study the rare event physics for which PHENIX was designed, it
is necessary to have a higher level of event rejection than possible with the

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Table 2
Channel counts, digitizer channels and LVL-1 trigger bits/sums for PHENIX.

Subsystem Detector ADC TDC LVL-1

Symbol Channels Channels Channels Inputs
BB 128 128 256 128 bits
MVD 20,736 20,736
NTC 8 8 16 8 bits
DC 12,800 12,800
PC 172,800 172,800
TEC 20,480 20,480
RICH 5120 5120 5120 256 bits
TOF 1920 1920 1920 1920 bits
T0 22 22 44 22 bits
EMCal 24,768 49,536 24,768 688 bits
µTR 20,480 20,480
µID 3,660 3,660 3,660 hits

level-1 trigger alone. Therefore a level-2 software trigger [13] that makes its
selection after a complete event is assembled was developed.

Once the level-1 trigger accepts an event, the data from the various subsystems
is routed via fiber-optic cable to the data collection modules [13] that interact
with the subsystems by means of daughter cards that format and zero-suppress
the data. Data packets are generated by digital signal processors and sent to
event builders [13] that assemble the events in their final form. The control
and monitoring of the electronics and triggering is handled by the On-Line
Computing System (ONCS) [14]. ONCS configures and initializes the on-line
system, monitors and controls the data flow and interlocks the data acquisition
process with the slow controls systems. After the data is collected the off-
line system [14] provides event reconstruction, data analysis and information
management. It provides the tools to convert raw data into physics results.

4 Conclusion

The performance of the PHENIX detector is summarized in Table 3. It is

designed to carry out the broadest possible study of collisions from Au-Au to
p-p. The goal is to examine nuclear matter under a variety of extreme condi-

14
Table 3
Performance of the PHENIX Detector.

Physics Year-2 Version

Electrons π/e < 10−4 at p ≤ 4.7 GeV/c
RICH for < 4.7 GeV/c
TEC (dE/dx) for < 2 GeV/c
EMCal for > 0.5 GeV/c
Photons pT ≥ 1 GeV/c for 0.5 sr with PbGl.
pT ≥ 1 GeV/c for 1.5 sr with PbSc.
Single γs resolved from merging π 0 → γ + γ
out to PT ≥ 25 GeV/c.
Hadrons ≤ 2.3 GeV/c π for 0.38 sr
≤ 1.6 GeV/c K for 0.38 sr
≤ 5.0 GeV/c p for 0.38 sr
TOF with σ < 100 ps.
Muons π/µ < 3 × 10−3 at p ≥ 2.3 GeV/c
with 5 layers of µID.
Global d2 N/dηdφ for |η| < 2.6

tions using a variety of probes sensitive to all time scales. In addition, studies
of various signals are carried out as a function of both energy and nuclear
species in order to separate QGP signals from those of hadronic origin. An-
other goal is to measure the spin structure of the nucleon by determining the
contributions from anti-quarks and gluons. The above goals have resulted in
the production of a detector with unparalled capabilities. In the summer of
2000 a number of Au-Au collisions were observed between Au ions with ener-
gies of 65 GeV/nucleon using the central spectrometer. In the first PHENIX
physics publication [15] results from the measurement of the charged-particle
multiplicity are presented. Subsequently results from the first measurement
of energy transverse to the beam direction [16], on mass dependence of two-
pion correlations [17], on measurement of single electrons with implications for
charm production [18] and on the centrality dependence of pion, kaon, pro-
ton and antiproton production [19] have been published and studies of results
from Au-Au collisions with 100 Gev/nucleon beams are underway.

15
5 Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of the RHIC project, Collider-Accelerator, and Physics

Departments at BNL and the staff of PHENIX participating institutions for
their vital contributions. We acknowledge support from the Department of
Energy and NSF (U.S.A.), Monbu-sho and STA (Japan), RAS, RMAE, and
RMS (Russia), BMBF and DAAD (Germany), FRN, NFR, and the Wallen-
berg Foundation (Sweden), MIST and NSERC (Canada), CNPq and FAPESP
(Brazil), IN2P3/CNRS and DAPNIA/CEA (France), DAE (India), KRF and
KOSEF (Korea) and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation.

References

[1] Y. Akiba et al., Nucl. Phys. A638 (1998) 565c.

[2] N. Saito et al., Nucl. Phys. A638 (1998) 575c.
[3] J. Ashman et al., (EMCollab.) Phys. Lett. B 202 (1988) 603; J.J. Aubert et al..
(EMCollab.) Phys. Lett. B 123 (1983) 275.
[4] PHENIX Conceptual Design Report, BNL 1993 (unpublished).
[5] C. Adler et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 470 (2001) 488.
[6] ZDC article this volume.
[7] Article entitled “PHENIX Inner Detectors” this volume.
[8] Article entitled “PHENIX Magnet System” this volume.
[9] Article entitled “PHENIX Calorimeter” this volume.
[10] Article entitled “PHENIX Central Arm Tracking Detectors” this volume.
[11] Article entitled “PHENIX Central Arm Particle I.D. Detectors” this volume.
[12] Article entitled “PHENIX Muon Arms” this volume.
[13] Article entitled “PHENIX On-Line Systems” this volume.
[14] Article entitled “PHENIX On-Line and Off-Line Computing” this volume.
[15] K. Adcox et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 (2001) 3500.
[16] K. Adcox et al.. Phys. Rev. Lett. 87 (2001) 052301.
[17] K. Adcox et al.. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 (2002) 192302.
[18] K. Adcox et al.. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 (2002) 192303.
[19] K. Adcox et al.. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 (2002) 242301.

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