A detailed study of the performance of the uranium-gas sampling calorimeter

Abstract Results of experimental studies of the performance of the uranium calorimeter with gas sampling detectors are presented. There is further evidence showing the importance of the contribution of the neutron component of a hadronic shower to the detected signal. The response and the resolution of the uranium calorimeter are measured in the momentum range 0.3–6.0 GeV/ c for the different incident particles and different gases that are used in the detectors. For a calorimeter structure with double-gas-detector layers, the correlation between signals from two calorimeters formed by chambers filled with different gas mixtures is measured. The topics that are relevant to the performance of the L3 uranium-gas sampling calorimeter - such as its operation in the magnetic field, the energy dependence of muon response, the uranium noise, as well as the electronics optimization - are discussed.