A bootstrap method for gain calibration and resolution determination of a lead-glass calorimeter

Abstract We describe a method for calibration of a lead-glass calorimeter that does not require a beam of known energy. The technique was used to calibrate the radphi lead-glass calorimeter at Jefferson Lab. The technique described can be applied to any segmented electromagnetic calorimeter capable of detecting all-photon decays of mesons, for example, π 0 → 2 γ , η → 2 γ or ω → π 0 γ . We also demonstrate how the measured 2 γ mass width of the π 0 and η mesons can be unfolded to extract the single-shower energy and position resolution functions of the calorimeter.