Operational Experience and Performance with the ATLAS Pixel Detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN

Abstract

The ATLAS Pixel Detector is the innermost part of the ATLAS Detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It is crucial for tracking and vertexing of charged particles originating from primary or secondary vertices and hence allows track reconstruction and particle tagging, utilised in the many analyses performed on ATLAS data. The LHC has provided an excellent amount of data, leading to challenging conditions for the various subdetectors, which have to cope with an increased data rate and increased radiation damage. In this report, the operational conditions under those circumstances for the ATLAS Pixel Detector are discussed, followed by a brief discussion of some of the effects of radiation damage on the current detector. The challenges for the future, as well as the actions needed to ensure a stable operation, in the upcoming periods of data taking, are outlined.