Study of the performance of the Micromegas chambers for the ATLAS muon spectrometer upgrade

Abstract

Micromegas (Micro Mesh Gaseous Structures) chambers and sTGC (small-strip Thin Gap Chambers) have been chosen for the upgrade of the forward muon detectors of the ATLAS experiment to provide precision tracking and trigger capabilities. The Micromegas chambers for ATLAS have been designed to allow operation in a high rate environment, to guarantee a resolution below 100 μm per point on a large area and to provide a fast trigger signal. In the last months several tests have been done on small area prototypes in order to verify that the requirements on resolution and rate capabilities are well matched. The results of the performance studies done on beams at CERN and of the ageing studies done at CEA Saclay are presented.© CERN 2014 for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration..