Track reconstruction in the emulsion-lead target of the OPERA experiment using the ESS microscope

Abstract

The OPERA experiment, designed to conclusively prove the existence of Vμ → Vτ oscillations in the atmospheric sector, makes use of a massive lead-nuclear emulsion target to observe the appearance of VτS in the CNGS Vμ beam. The location and analysis of the neutrino interactions in quasi real-time required the development of fast computer-controlled microscopes able to reconstruct particle tracks with sub-micron precision and high efficiency at a speed of ∼ 20cm2/h. This paper describes the performance in particle track reconstruction of the European Scanning System, a novel automatic microscope for the measurement of emulsion films developed for OPERA. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA.