The role of the waveform in pulse pile-up

Abstract Pulse pile-up is the distortion of pulse-height distributions due to the overlap of detector responses to the arrival of two or more particles or photons within the detector resolving time. This paper presents a computational technique for simulating pile-up effects, which includes explicitly the dependence on the pulse-shape of the detector system. The basis of the technique is the manipulation of probability densities. The method is applicable to all types of linear pulse counting systems for nucleons, electrons, and photons, as long as the result is a pulse-height distribution. The algorithms are highly efficient in the amount of computing required for simulations, and internal checks for the numerical accuracy of the results are included. Studies of pile-up by monoenergetic pulses are used to determine the interrelationship between pulse shapes and spectral features; this information can be used to minimize pile-up. For broad spectra, the square wave approximation is compared with the present model including the correct waveform; introducing the pulse shape information smooths spectral features but does not qualitatively change the spectrum.