Straw chamber
Encyclopedia
A straw chamber is a type of Gaseous ionization detector
. It is a long tube with a wire down the center and a gas
which becomes ionized when a particle
passes through. A potential difference is maintained between the wire and the walls of the tube, so that once the gas is ionized electrons move in one direction and ions in the other. This produces a current which indicates that a particle has passed through the chamber.
Many straws together can be used to track particles
in a straw tracker
.
Gaseous ionization detectors
In particle physics, gaseous ionization detectors are detectors designed to seek the presence of particles . If a particle has enough energy to ionize a gas atom or molecule, the resulting electrons and ions cause a current flow which can be measured in different ways...
. It is a long tube with a wire down the center and a gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
which becomes ionized when a particle
Elementary particle
In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles. If an elementary particle truly has no substructure, then it is one of the basic building blocks of the universe from which...
passes through. A potential difference is maintained between the wire and the walls of the tube, so that once the gas is ionized electrons move in one direction and ions in the other. This produces a current which indicates that a particle has passed through the chamber.
Many straws together can be used to track particles
Elementary particle
In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles. If an elementary particle truly has no substructure, then it is one of the basic building blocks of the universe from which...
in a straw tracker
Straw tracker
A straw tracker is a type of particle detector which uses many straw chambers to track the path of a particle. The path is determined by the best fit to all the straws with hits. Since the time for a particular straw to produce a signal is proportional to the distance of the particle's closest...
.