Introducing a Markov chain-based time calibration procedure for multi-channel particle detectors: application to the SuperFGD and ToF detectors of the T2K experiment

Authors

S. Abe, The University of Tokyo
H. Alarakia-Charles, Department of Physics, Lancaster University
I. Alekseev, P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
C. Alt, ETH Zürich
T. Arai, The University of Tokyo
T. Arihara, Tokyo Metropolitan University
S. Arimoto, Kyoto University
A. M. Artikov, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna
Y. Awataguchi, Tokyo Metropolitan University
N. Babu, Louisiana State University
V. Baranov, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna
G. Barr, University of Oxford
D. Barrow, University of Oxford
L. Bartoszek
L. Bernardi, IN2P3 - Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique Des Particules
L. Berns, Tohoku University
S. Bhattacharjee, Louisiana State University
A. V. Boikov, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna
A. Blanchet, Université de Genève
A. Blondel, Sorbonne Université
A. Bonnemaison, IN2P3 - Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique Des Particules
S. Bordoni, Université de Genève
M. H. Bui, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology
T. H. Bui, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
F. Cadoux, Université de Genève
S. Cap, Université de Genève
A. Cauchois, IN2P3 - Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique Des Particules
J. Chakrani, IN2P3 - Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique Des Particules
P. S. Chong, University of Pennsylvania
A. Chvirova, Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences
P. Collard, Université de Genève
M. Danilov, P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
C. Davis, University of Pennsylvania

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-2025

Abstract

Inter-channel mis-synchronisation can be a limiting factor to the time resolution of high performance timing detectors with multiple readout channels and independent electronics units. In these systems, time calibration methods employed must be able to efficiently correct for minimal mis-synchronisation between channels and achieve the best detector performance. We present an iterative time calibration method based on Markov Chains, suitable for detector systems with multiple readout channels. Starting from correlated hit pairs alone, and without requiring an external reference time measurement, the method solves for fixed per-channel offsets, with precision limited only by the intrinsic single-channel resolution. A mathematical proof that the method is able to find the correct time offsets to be assigned to each detector channel in order to achieve inter-channel synchronisation is given, and it is shown that the number of iterations to reach convergence within the desired precision is controllable with a single parameter. Numerical studies are used to confirm unbiased recovery of true offsets. Finally, the application of the calibration method to the Super Fine-Grained Detector (SuperFGD) and the Time of Flight (TOF) detector at the upgraded T2K near detector (ND280) shows good improvement in overall timing resolution, demonstrating the effectiveness in a real-world scenario and scalability.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Journal of Instrumentation

Recommended Citation

Abe, S., Alarakia-Charles, H., Alekseev, I., Alt, C., Arai, T., Arihara, T., Arimoto, S., Artikov, A., Awataguchi, Y., Babu, N., Baranov, V., Barr, G., Barrow, D., Bartoszek, L., Bernardi, L., Berns, L., Bhattacharjee, S., Boikov, A., Blanchet, A., Blondel, A., Bonnemaison, A., Bordoni, S., Bui, M., Bui, T., Cadoux, F., Cap, S., Cauchois, A., Chakrani, J., Chong, P., Chvirova, A., Collard, P., Danilov, M., & Davis, C. (2025). Introducing a Markov chain-based time calibration procedure for multi-channel particle detectors: application to the SuperFGD and ToF detectors of the T2K experiment. Journal of Instrumentation, 20 (10) https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/20/10/P10030