CLAS Drift Chamber Calibration Procedural Improvements

D. Lawrence, M. Mestayer Feb. 2004

Tasks:

• Fix the problem that prohibits the unambiguous determination of the calibration constants used during cooking of a given file. This will be addressed by providing a web-based, interactive system to aide calibrators in creating cooking scripts.

• Replace the trk_mon program with a more specialized version dedicated to calibration. This should remove a large portion of the code which is not needed for calibration purposes. The new trk_mon_lite program will possibly incorporate new features such as automatic logging of calibration quality figures of merit into a database.

• Address the event limit problem inherent in hbook files. This problem arises due to an inherent limitation of the hbook file format.

• Remove or inhibit certain controls currently available to the user in dc3. These parameters now have better known defaults and leaving these degrees of freedom to the inexperienced calibrator has sometimes led to poor calibrations and an associated loss of man-hours. Some of these parameters will be placed in the calibration database (or equivalent) where experts can modify them without having to modify executable code.

• Simplify the particle identification and track selection process for calibration. The current process requires multiple steps be performed which could be automated to both simplify the process and avoid human error.

• Significant testing of the new system across a wide variety of running conditions. The previous system tended to be developed using data from a single run period. This did not necessarily lead to a general system, but rather a system tuned to a single set of conditions. The new system must respond consistently to all running conditions.

• Update all relevant documentation.