T48 polyethylene

for (CH4)n as function of target length (40 GeV/c)

The performance of a polyethylene target is very poor, as with a very large interaction length, the production of low energy particles is only provided by a physically very long target, which results in a very broad shower. The production within the acceptance is therefore low. Preferred are high Z materials with a short interaction length, e.g. copper or lead (Uranium to bother TIS). The same plot for 80 GeV/c incident pions is shown in this Figure, where the situation is not improved. A summary plot as variation of the primary momentum can be found in Figure. Increasing the material density of the target changes the situation as follows.