Naomi van der Kolk

Precision greenhouse agriculture enhances plant health and crop yields by continuously monitoring key plant parameters. Stem diameter is such a parameter and is monitored to support decisions on plant care. However, traditional contact-based methods induce thigmomorphogenic effects that impact plant growth. Here, we introduce the Optical Caliper (OC), a novel contactless device for precise, non-invasive stem diameter measurement. The OC operates by projecting a collimated light beam to cast a shadow of the stem onto a high-resolution image sensor. The shadow size is a measure for the stem diameter. Controlled laboratory tests show the OC offers an accuracy comparable to that of a Digital Caliper (DC). Field trials on irregular tomato and cucumber stems demonstrate a repeatability of 0.1–0.2 mm. The OC’s non-invasive design and high repeatability exceed the performance of a DC, making it particularly suited for accurately monitoring soft, variable plant structures. Bringing the advantage of avoiding thigmomophogenic effects and thus optimizing crop yield, the OC is a promising tool for high-throughput plant phenotyping and precision agriculture applications.

Highly segmented digital tracking calorimeters consist of multiple layers of high-granularity pixel detector CMOS sensors and absorption/conversion layers. Two separate prototypes are being developed: (1) an electromagnetic calorimeter for a proposed ALICE upgrade (during Long Shutdown 3) and (2) a hadronic calorimeter for medical proton computed tomography imaging. These prototypes employ the ALPIDE detector chip developed for the ALICE Inner Tracking System. The ALPIDE chips are mounted on intermediate aluminum/polyimide flexible circuits with ultrasonic welding. This contribution presents findings and solutions to the challenging design of high-speed readout electronics with efficient use of FPGA resources for these prototypes.

A detailed study of hadronic interactions is presented using data recorded with the highly granular CALICE silicon-tungsten electromagnetic calorimeter. The predictions of several Monte Carlo GEANT4 models are compared with experimental data, taken at FNAL in 2008. The contribution recaps results published in 2015 and a set of new results available since the beginning of 2016. The published results present a detailed analysis of hadronic showers in terms of radial and longitudinal hit and energy distributions. For the most recent analysis a simple track-finding algorithm was developed to study tracks left by secondary particles, emerging from hadronic interactions in the highly granular electromagnetic calorimeter prototype. Present Monte Carlo simulations provide a good description of the experimental data in terms of new observables, available through the detailed analysis of secondary particles; the Monte Carlo predictions are within 20% of the data, and for many observables much closer.

Towards a Technological Prototype for a High-granularity Electromagnetic Calorimeter for Future Lepton Colliders Taikan Suehara and CALICE SiW-ECAL group-Construction and commissioning of a technological prototype of a highgranularity semi-digital hadronic calorimeter G. Baulieu, M. Bedjidian, K. Belkadhi et al.-Recent citations Particle identification using Boosted Decision Trees in the semi-digital hadronic calorimeter B. Liu et al-Analysis of testbeam data of the highly granular RPC-steel CALICE digital hadron calorimeter and validation of Geant4 Monte Carlo models M. Chefdeville et al-Energy reconstruction for a hadronic calorimeter using multivariate data analysis methods B. Liu et al

The spatial development of hadronic showers in the CALICE scintillator-steel analogue hadron calorimeter is studied using test beam data collected at CERN and FNAL for single positive pions and protons with initial momenta in the range of 10–80 GeV/c. Both longitudinal and radial development of hadron showers are parametrised with two-component functions. The parametrisation is fit to test beam data and simulations using the QGSP_BERT and FTFP_BERT physics lists from GEANT4 version 9.6. The parameters extracted from data and simulated samples are compared for the two types of hadrons. The response to pions and the ratio of the non-electromagnetic to the electromagnetic calorimeter response, h/e, are estimated using the extrapolation and decomposition of the longitudinal profiles.

In special tests, the active layers of the CALICE Digital Hadron Calorimeter prototype, the DHCAL, were exposed to low energy particle beams, without being interleaved by absorber plates. The thickness of each layer corresponded approximately to 0.29 radiation lengths or 0.034 nuclear interaction lengths, defined mostly by the copper and steel skins of the detector cassettes. This paper reports on measurements performed with this device in the Fermilab test beam with positrons in the energy range of 1 to 10 GeV. The measurements are compared to simulations based on GEANT4 and a standalone program to emulate the detailed response of the active elements.

We present a study of showers initiated by electrons, pions, kaons, and protons with momenta from 15 GeV to 150 GeV in the highly granular CALICE scintillator-tungsten analogue hadronic calorimeter. The data were recorded at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron in 2011. The analysis includes measurements of the calorimeter response to each particle type as well as measurements of the energy resolution and studies of the longitudinal and radial shower development for selected particles. The results are compared to Geant4 simulations (version 9.6.p02). In the study of the energy resolution we include previously published data with beam momenta from 1 GeV to 10 GeV recorded at the CERN Proton Synchrotron in 2010.

Showers produced by positive hadrons in the highly granular CALICE scintillator-steel analogue hadron calorimeter were studied. The experimental data were collected at CERN and FNAL for single particles with initial momenta from 10 to 80 GeV/c. The calorimeter response and resolution and spatial characteristics of shower development for proton- and pion-induced showers for test beam data and simulations using GEANT4 version 9.6 are compared.