Effect of a preshower detector on calorimetry performance

Test beam results obtained with a preshower detector in a SDC calorimetry configuration are presented. The benefits of independently instrumenting the first scintillating tile of each tower of the tile/fiber electromagnetic calorimeter, forming the analogue of the "Massless Gap" in LAr calorimeters, are demonstrated. Electron and pion data were taken with a calorimeter configured with one or two radiation lengths of inert material in front, a scintillating fiber preshower detector, a tile/fiber electromagnetic calorimeter, a shower maximum detector, and a tile/fiber hadron calorimeter. The energy deposited in the scintillating fibers of the preshower detector was summed to simulate the preshower energy that would be detected by the first scintillating tile of an EMC tower. The data were collected in the MP9 beam line at Fermilab during the Summer and Fall of 1991. The relative degradation in electromagnetic energy resolution due to the inert material in front of the electromagnetic calorimeter was measured. The resolution is improved by adding in the properly weighted preshower energy. The charged pion rejection versus electron acceptance is presented for combined cuts using the electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters, with the energy deposited in the preshower and shower maximum detectors. We show that, even after calorimetric and shower maximum cuts, the pion rejection is further improved by using the preshower energy.