The zero-degree calorimeter for the relativistic heavy-ion experiment WA80 at CERN

Calibration and performance results are presented for a sampling calorimeter designed for use as a beam calorimeter at zero degrees in the relativistic heavy-ion experiment WA80 at CERN. This uranium-scintillator zero-degree calorimeter (ZDC) was found to have a linear response to heavy ions over the range 60–6400 GeV and an in-beam hadronic resolution ranging from σE = 0.013 + 0.33√E at low intensities to σE = 0.02 + 0.67√E at higher intensities. The eh ratio of the electromagnetic section was measured to be 1.12 at 135 GeV. The ZDC operated reliably with incident beams of 3.2 TeV oxygen and 6.4 TeV sulfur at intensities of over 106 nuclei per spill. It provided a trigger both for minimum bias events and for violent central collisions.