Particle production and identification for the T10 secondary beamline of the CERN East Area

Abstract

The particle composition of the T10 beam line in the renovated East Hall at CERN has been measured using several experimental techniques and detectors: pressure scans on a threshold Cherenkov counter, a lead-glass calorimeter, time-of-flight, and finally using two separate threshold Cherenkov counters. For the pressure scans, at a given beam momentum, the count rate in the Cherenkov counters is measured as a function of pressure in the counter. The count rate normalized to the rate of beam particles allows computation of the fraction of a specific particle type in the beam. For the method using two threshold Cherenkov counters, one set above and one set below the threshold for the particle species to be identified, with the difference relative to a beam trigger giving the particle fraction for that species. The measurement was proposed in the context of the ``Beamline For Schools'' competition by team Particular Perspective and carried out in 2023. This data was expanded with pressure scans in 2023 and 2025. Overlapping data is compared, leading to a comprehensive overview of the particle content of the T10 beam.