TEC/TRD for the PHENIX experiment

Abstract The TEC/TRD is a set of large multi-wire tracking chambers in the PHENIX experiment with fiber radiators in front of the tracking volume. It provides charged-particle pattern recognition, momentum measurement and particle identification through determinations of both ionization energy loss (d E /d x ) and associated transition radiation (TR) photons. A custom front-end electronics is instrumented with a dual-gain system to read out the d E /d x and the TR events. A recirculating gas system for the Xe-based mixture is developed. The device will be fully operational starting in December 2003. It will provide e/π separation with momenta ranging from 0.25 to 50 GeV /c .