Riccardo Paramatti

To develop and validate an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model based on texture analysis of high-resolution T2 weighted MR images able 1) to predict pathologic Complete Response (CR) and 2) to identify non-responders (NR) among patients with locally-advanced rectal cancer (LARC) after receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT).Fifty-five consecutive patients with LARC were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Patients underwent 3 T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) acquiring T2-weighted images before, during and after CRT. All patients underwent complete surgical resection and histopathology was the gold standard. Textural features were automatically extracted using an open-source software. A sub-set of statistically significant textural features was selected and two AI models were built by training a Random Forest (RF) classifier on 28 patients (training cohort). Model performances were estimated on 27 patients (validation cohort) using a ROC curve and a decision curve analysis.Sixteen of 55 patients achieved CR. The AI model for CR classification showed good discrimination power with mean area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.94) in the validation cohort. The discriminatory power for the NR classification showed a mean AUC of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.71,0.92). Decision curve analysis confirmed higher net patient benefit when using AI models compared to standard-of-care.AI models based on textural features of MR images of patients with LARC may help to identify patients who will show CR at the end of treatment and those who will not respond to therapy (NR) at an early stage of the treatment.

Charged particle beams are used in particle therapy (PT) to treat oncological patients due to their selective dose deposition in tissues with respect to the photons and electrons used in conventional radiotherapy. Heavy (Z > 1) PT beams can additionally be exploited for their high biological effectiveness in killing cancer cells. Nowadays, protons and carbon ions are used in PT clinical routines. Recently, interest in the potential application of helium and oxygen beams has been growing. With respect to protons, such beams are characterized by their reduced multiple scattering inside the body, increased linear energy transfer, relative biological effectiveness and oxygen enhancement ratio.

We report on the response of microchannel plates (MCPs) to single relativistic particles and to electromagnetic showers. Particle detection by means of secondary emission of electrons at the MCP surface has long been proposed and is used extensively in ion time-of-flight mass spectrometers. What has not been investigated in depth is their use to detect the ionizing component of showers. The time resolution of MCPs exceeds anything that has been previously used in calorimeters and, if exploited effectively, could aid in the event reconstruction at high luminosity colliders. Several prototypes of photodetectors with the amplification stage based on MCPs were exposed to cosmic rays and to 491 MeV electrons at the INFN-LNF Beam-Test Facility. The time resolution and the efficiency of the MCPs are measured as a function of the particle multiplicity, and the results used to model the response to high-energy showers.

A novel radioguided surgery (RGS) technique exploiting β⁻ radiation has been proposed. To develop such a technique, a suitable radiotracer able to deliver a β⁻ emitter to the tumor has to be identified. A first candidate is represented by ⁹⁰Y-labeled DOTATOC, a compound commonly used today for peptide radioreceptor therapy. The application of this β⁻ RGS to neuroendocrine tumors (NET) requires study of the uptake of DOTATOC and its time evolution both in tumors and in healthy organs and evaluation of the corresponding performance of the technique. <b>Methods:</b> Uptake by lesions and healthy organs (kidneys, spleen, liver and healthy muscle) was estimated on ¹⁷⁷Lu-DOTATOC SPECT/CT scans of 15 patients affected by NET with different localizations, treated at IRCCS–Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, Italy. For each patient, SPECT/CT images, acquired at 0.5, 4, 20, 40, and 70 h after injection, were studied. For each lesion, the tumor-to-nontumor ratio (TNR) with respect to all healthy organs and its time evolution were studied. A subset of patients showing hepatic lesions was selected, and the TNR with respect to the nearby healthy tissue was calculated. By means of a Monte Carlo simulation of the probe for β⁻ RGS, the activity that is to be administered for a successful detection was estimated lesion-by-lesion. <b>Results:</b> Uptake of DOTATOC on NETs maximized at about 24 h after injection. The cases of hepatic lesions showed a TNR with respect to the tumor margins compatible with the application of β⁻ RGS. In particular, 0.1-mL residuals are expected to be detectable within 1 s with 5% false-negative and 1% false-positive by administering the patient as little as 1 MBq/kg. <b>Conclusion:</b> The balance between tumor uptake and metabolic washout in healthy tissue causes the TNR to increase with time, reaching its maximum after 24 h, and this characteristic can be exploited when a radiotracer with a long half-life, such as ⁹⁰Y, is used. In particular, if ⁹⁰Y-DOTATOC is used with liver NET metastases, the proposed RGS technique is believed to be feasible by injecting an activity that is one third of that commonly used for PET imaging.

Charged particle therapy is a technique for cancer treatment that exploits hadron beams, mostly protons and carbon ions. A critical issue is the monitoring of the beam range so to check the correct dose deposition to the tumor and surrounding tissues. The design of a new tracking device for beam range real-time monitoring in pencil beam carbon ion therapy is presented. The proposed device tracks secondary charged particles produced by beam interactions in the patient tissue and exploits the correlation of the charged particle emission profile with the spatial dose deposition and the Bragg peak position. The detector, currently under construction, uses the information provided by 12 layers of scintillating fibers followed by a plastic scintillator and a pixelated Lutetium Fine Silicate (LFS) crystal calorimeter. An algorithm to account and correct for emission profile distortion due to charged secondaries absorption inside the patient tissue is also proposed. Finally detector reconstruction efficiency for charged particle emission profile is evaluated using a Monte Carlo simulation considering a quasi-realistic case of a non-homogenous phantom.

The interaction of the incoming beam radiation with the patient body in hadrontherapy treatments produces secondary charged and neutral particles, whose detection can be used for monitoring purposes and to perform an on-line check of beam particle range. Charged particles are potentially attractive since they can be easily tracked with a high efficiency, in presence of a relatively low background contamination. In order to verify the possibility of exploiting this approach for in-beam monitoring in hadrontherapy, and to guide the design of specific detectors, both simulations and experimental tests are being performed with ion beams impinging on simple homogeneous tissue-like targets (PMMA). An important outcome of these studies is that the experimental single track resolution needed for charged particle based monitoring applications can be safely of the order of few millimeters, without spoiling the precision achievable on longitudinal shape. The results obtained so far show that the measurement of charged particles can be successfully implemented in a technology capable of monitoring the dose profile and the position of the Bragg peak inside the target and finally lead to the design of a novel profile detector. Crucial aspects to be considered are the detector positioning, to be optimized in order to maximize the available statistics, and the capability of accounting for the multiple scattering interactions undergone by the charged fragments along their exit path from the patient body. The experimental results collected up to now are also valuable for the validation of Monte Carlo simulation software tools and their implementation in Treatment Planning Software packages.

Nowadays there is a growing interest in Particle Therapy treatments exploiting light ion beams against tumors due to their enhanced Relative Biological Effectiveness and high space selectivity. In particular promising results are obtained by the use of $^4$He projectiles. Unlike the treatments performed using protons, the beam ions can undergo a fragmentation process when interacting with the atomic nuclei in the patient body. In this paper the results of measurements performed at the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy center are reported. For the first time the absolute fluxes and the energy spectra of the fragments - protons, deuterons, and tritons - produced by $^4$He ion beams of 102, 125 and 145 MeV/u energies on a poly-methyl methacrylate target were evaluated at different angles. The obtained results are particularly relevant in view of the necessary optimization and review of the Treatment Planning Software being developed for clinical use of $^4$He beams in clinical routine and the relative benchmarking of Monte Carlo algorithm predictions.

Abstract The barrel section of the novel MIP Timing Detector (MTD) will be constructed as part of the upgrade of the CMS experiment to provide a time resolution for single charged tracks in the range of 30–60 ps using LYSO:Ce crystal arrays read out with Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). A major challenge for the operation of such a detector is the extremely high radiation level, of about 2 × 10 14 1 MeV(Si) Eqv. n/cm 2 , that will be integrated over a decade of operation of the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). Silicon Photomultipliers exposed to this level of radiation have shown a strong increase in dark count rate and radiation damage effects that also impact their gain and photon detection efficiency. For this reason during operations the whole detector is cooled down to about -35°C. In this paper we illustrate an innovative and cost-effective solution to mitigate the impact of radiation damage on the timing performance of the detector, by integrating small thermo-electric coolers (TECs) on the back of the SiPM package. This additional feature, fully integrated as part of the SiPM array, enables a further decrease in operating temperature down to about -45°C. This leads to a reduction by a factor of about two in the dark count rate without requiring additional power budget, since the power required by the TEC is almost entirely offset by a decrease in the power required for the SiPM operation due to leakage current. In addition, the operation of the TECs with reversed polarity during technical stops of the accelerator can raise the temperature of the SiPMs up to 60°C (about 50°C higher than the rest of the detector), thus accelerating the annealing of radiation damage effects and partly recovering the SiPM performance.

INFN Kids is a science education project of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics addressed to young people of Primary and Middle schools age. The initiative aims at raising children’s curiosity towards science with a focus on Physics, inspiring them with science by illustrating the different research fields that INFN is pursuing, the development in technologies along with the applications in everyday life and presenting people who animate science. It gathers technicians and researchers of thirteen units and National labs in the design and realization of multimedia products, laboratory-based activities, comics, science demos and exhibits. The activities are conducted online and in person in schools, science festivals and at INFN’s sites. The adopted methodologies and the didactic tools (lectures, interactive lessons, hands-on sessions, science games) involve children in the direct exploration of natural phenomena. Given the manifold plan of activities the recipients of the project are also teachers and families, and this allowed to expand and use different formats to meet the audience’s requests. We here present an overview of the ongoing initiatives to share our experiences and we illustrate in particular the comics centered on the characters Leo and Alice that drive children in the investigation of the micro and macro world, and the laboratory-based activities designed to introduce kids some fundamental concepts related to matter and its inner structure.

Proton and carbon ion beams are used in the clinical practice for external radiotherapy treatments achieving, for selected indications, promising and superior clinical results with respect to x-ray based radiotherapy. Other ions, like have recently been considered as projectiles in particle therapy centres and might represent a good compromise between the linear energy transfer and the radiobiological effectiveness of ion and proton beams, allowing improved tumour control probability and minimising normal tissue complication probability. All the currently used p, and ion beams allow achieving sharp dose gradients on the boundary of the target volume, however the accurate dose delivery is sensitive to the patient positioning and to anatomical variations with respect to photon therapy. This requires beam range and/or dose release measurement during patient irradiation and therefore the development of dedicated monitoring techniques. All the proposed methods make use of the secondary radiation created by the beam interaction with the patient and, in particular, in the case of ion beams are also able to exploit the significant charged radiation component.

Cerium-doped Lutetium-Yttrium Oxyorthosilicate (LYSO:Ce)is one of the most widely used Cerium-doped Lutetium based scintillation crystals. Initially developed for medical detectors it rapidly became attractive for High Energy Particle Physics (HEP) applications, especially in the frame of high luminosity particle colliders. In this paper, a comprehensive and systematic study of LYSO:Ce ($[Lu_{(1-x)}Y_x]_2SiO_5$:$Ce$) crystals is presented. It involves for the first time a large number of crystal samples (180) of the same size from a dozen of producers.The study consists of a comparative characterization of LYSO:Ce crystal products available on the market by mechanical, optical and scintillation measurements and aims specifically, to investigate key parameters of timing applications for HEP.

The development of the β <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-</sup> based radio-guided surgery aims to extend the technique to those tumours where surgery is the only possible treatment and the assessment of the resection would most profit from the low background around the lesion, as for brain tumours. To validate the technique, prototypes of the intraoperative β <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-</sup> probe have been developed. This paper discusses the design details of one of the prototypes and its tests performed in laboratory. In such tests particular care has to be taken to reproduce the surgical field conditions. The tests showed that the prototype under study has 70% efficiency on electrons with an energy threshold at 540 keV, a point-like resolution of 2.8±0.1 mm, and a sensitivity to photons lower than 1%. The tests also demonstrated, with an innovative technique to produce specific phantoms, that 0.5 ml residuals can be safely identified in 1 s with tumor-non-tumor ratio equal to 10.

Hadrontherapy is a technique for cancer treatment that exploits ion beams (mostly protons and carbons). A critical issue is the accuracy that is achievable when monitoring the dose released by the beam to the tumor and to the surrounding tissues. We present the design of a tracking device, developed in the framework of the INSIDE project [1], capable of monitoring in real time the longitudinal profile of the dose delivered in the patient. This is possible by detecting the secondary particles produced by the interaction of the beam in the tissues. The position of the Bragg peak can be correlated to the charged particles emission point distribution measurement. The tracking device will be able to provide a fast response on the dose pattern by tracking the secondary charged fragments. The tracks are detected using 6 planes of scintillating fibers, providing the 3D coordinates of the track intersection with each plane. The fibers planes are followed by a plastic scintillator and by a small calorimeter built with a pixelated Lutetium Fine Silicate (LFS) crystal. A complete detector simulation, followed by the event reconstruction, has been performed to determine the achievable monitoring spatial resolution.

The CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter (ECAL) is made of about 75 000 lead tungstate crystals. The 61 200 crystals of the barrel part are read by Avalanche Photodiodes (APD) with internal amplification of the signal. Since the gain strongly depends on the bias voltage, the APDs require a very stable power supply system. To preserve the high energy resolution of the calorimeter, a stability of the bias voltage of the order of 10-4 is required over several months, a typical interval between absolute calibrations of the full read-out chain with physics events. This paper describes the high voltage power supply system developed for CMS ECAL and its performances as measured in laboratory tests and during test-beam operations of several modules of the calorimeter.

Hundreds of concurrent collisions per bunch crossing are expected at future hadron colliders. Precision timing calorimetry has been advocated as a way to mitigate the pileup effects and, thanks to their excellent time resolution, microchannel plates (MCPs) are good candidate detectors for this goal. We report on the response of MCPs, used as secondary emission detectors, to single relativistic particles and to electromagnetic showers. Several prototypes, with different geometries and characteristics, were exposed to particle beams at the INFN-LNF Beam Test Facility and at CERN. Their time resolution and efficiency are measured for single particles and as a function of the multiplicity of particles. Efficiencies between 50% and 90% to single relativistic particles are reached, and up to 100% in presence of a large number of particles. Time resolutions between 20 ps and 30 ps are obtained.

A sampling calorimeter using cerium fluoride scintillating crystals as active material, interleaved with heavy absorber plates, and read out by wavelength-shifting (WLS) fibers is being studied as a calorimeter option for detectors at the upgraded High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) collider at CERN. A prototype has been exposed to electron beams of different energies at the INFN Frascati (Italy) Beam Test Facility. This paper presents results from the studies performed on the prototype, such as signal amplitudes, light yield and energy resolution.

At the high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) about 200 concurrent interactions are expected, with a spread between the interaction vertices of few centimeters in the beam direction and 200 ps in the collision time. A time of flight resolution of the order of 30 ps would be able to reduce neutral particles pile-up contamination at the calorimeter level of about one order of magnitude, restoring pile-up conditions similar to what is routinely sustained in the current run of the LHC . Micro-channel plates have been used in PMT configuration as fast charged particles detector (resolution of better than 20 ps have been achieved with commercial devices), however they are not particularly radiation tolerant, mostly due to the ion feedback on the photocathode. The possibility of using micro-channel plates without a photocathode (i-MCP) has been studied in several test beams. Different MCP geometries are compared with the goal to identify the optimal configuration. Efficiency of more then 70% with a time resolution of better than 40 ps are achieved for single charged particles, leading to an efficiency close to 100% for EM shower after few radiation lengths. This open the possibility to use i-MCPs as a timing layer in a sampling calorimeter or to use it in a pre-shower device independent from the calorimeter technology.

A radio-guided surgery technique exploiting $\beta^-$ emitters is under development. It aims at a higher target-to-background activity ratio implying both a smaller radiopharmaceutical activity and the possibility of extending the technique to cases with a large uptake of surrounding healthy organs. Such technique requires a dedicated intraoperative probe detecting $\beta^-$ radiation. A first prototype has been developed relying on the low density and high light yield of the diphenylbutadiene doped para-therphenyl organic scintillator. The scintillation light produced in a cylindrical crystal, 5 mm in diameter and 3 mm in height, is guided to a photo-multiplier tube by optical fibres. The custom readout electronics is designed to optimize its usage in terms of feedback to the surgeon, portability and remote monitoring of the signal. Tests show that with a radiotracer activity comparable to those administered for diagnostic purposes the developed probe can detect a 0.1 ml cancerous residual of meningioma in a few seconds.

In this paper we report the re-analysis of the data published in (Piersanti et al. 2014) documenting the charged secondary particles production induced by the interaction of a 220 MeV/u 12C ion beam impinging on a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) target, measured in 2012 at the GSI facility in Darmstadt (Germany). This re-analysis takes into account the inhomogeneous light response of the LYSO crystal in the experimental setup measured in a subsequent experiment (2014) performed in the Heidelberg Ion- Beam Therapy Center. A better description of the detector and re-calculation of the geometrical efficiencies have been implemented as well, based on an improved approach that accounts also for the energy dependence of the emission spectrum. The new analysis has small effect on the total secondary charged flux, but has an impact on the production yield and emission velocity distributions of the different particle species (protons, deuterons and tritons) at different angles with respect to the beam direction (60° and 90°). All these observables indeed depend on the particle identification algorithms and hence on the LYSO detector energy response. The results of the data re-analysis presented here are intended to supersede and replace the results published in (Piersanti et al. 2014).

Particle therapy uses protons or $^{12}$C beams for the treatment of deep-seated solid tumors. Due to the features of the energy deposition of charged particles in matter, a limited amount of dose is released to the healthy tissue in the beam entrance region, while the maximum of the dose is released to the tumor at the end of the beam range, in the Bragg peak region. However nuclear interactions between beam and patient tissues induce fragmentation both of projectile and target. This has to be carefully taken into account since different ions have different effectiveness in producing a biological damage. par In $^{12}$C treatments the main concern are long range forward emitted secondary ions produced in projectile fragmentation that release dose in the healthy tissue after the tumor. Instead, in a proton treatment, the target fragmentation produces low energy, short range fragments along all the beam range. The FOOT experiment (FragmentatiOn Of Target) is designed to study these processes. Target nuclei ($^{16}$O, $^{12}$C) fragmentation induced by 150-250 MeV proton beam will be studied by means of the inverse kinematic approach: $^{16}$O,$^{12}$C therapeutic beams, at the quoted kinetic energy per nucleon, collide on graphite and hydrocarbons target. The cross section on Hydrogen can be then extracted by subtraction. This configuration explores also the projectile fragmentation of these O and C beams, or other ions of therapeutic interest, such as $^4$He for instance. The detector includes a magnetic spectrometer based on silicon pixel and strip detectors, a scintillating crystal calorimeter able to stop the heavier produced fragments, and a $\Delta E$ detector, with TOF capability, to achieve the needed energy resolution and particle identification. In addition to the electronic apparatus, an alternative setup based on the concept of the "Emulsion Cloud Chamber", coupled with the interaction region of the electronic FOOT setup, will provide the measurement of lighter charged fragments: protons, deuterons, tritons and Helium nuclei. The FOOT data taking is foreseen in the available experimental rooms existing in the presently operational charged particle therapy facilities in Europe, and possibly at GSI. An initial phase with the emulsion setup will start in early 2018, while the complete electronic detector will take data starting in 2019. In this work a general description of the FOOT experiment and of its expected performances is presented.

A prototype for a sampling calorimeter made out of cerium fluoride crystals interleaved with tungsten plates, and read out by wavelength-shifting fibres, has been exposed to beams of electrons with energies between 20 and 150 GeV, produced by the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator complex. The performance of the prototype is presented and compared to that of a Geant4 simulation of the apparatus. Particular emphasis is given to the response uniformity across the channel front face, and to the prototype׳s energy resolution.

Particle therapy is a technique that uses accelerated charged ions for cancer treatment and combines a high irradiation precision with a high biological effectiveness in killing tumor cells [1]. Informations about the secondary particles emitted in the interaction of an ion beam with the patient during a treatment can be of great interest in order to monitor the dose deposition. For this purpose an experiment at the HIT (Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center) beam facility has been performed in order to measure fluxes and emission profiles of secondary particles produced in the interaction of therapeutic beams with a PMMA target. In this contribution some preliminary results about the emission profiles and the energy spectra of the detected secondaries will be presented.

The barrel part of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter consists of about 75 000 Lead Tungstate (PbWO4) crystals arranged in 36×4 modules which are assembled in two Regional Centres, in Rome and at CERN. Two automatic machines have been designed to check the crystal quality before assembly. The main crystal characteristics are compared to a set of specifications included in the contract with the crystal producers. The measurement stability and cross-calibration between the two machines is a fundamental issue, which has to be monitored throughout the construction phase. This paper describes comparisons between measurements made at the two regional centres to ensure a consistent and reliable crystal quality control.

The CMS scintillating lead-tungstate calorimeter was designed to operate for at least ten years at the LHC, assuming an instantaneous luminosity of 1034 cm−2 s−1. The measurements obtained with data collected in LHC Run1 (2010–2012) show that the detector has performed according to design specifications and will survive with excellent performance through the lifetime of the LHC. However, plans for an upgrade of the LHC (the High Luminosity LHC, HL-LHC, project) aim at accumulating a much higher integrated luminosity, up to 3000 fb−1 in ten years. This will expose the detector to a total irradiation about six times higher with respect to the design specifications. An intense campaign of activities has started to define the improvements needed to survive such an increase in irradiation levels. The activities carried out include irradiation studies, simulations, design, realisation and test of prototypes of new detectors that may substitute the present one in the endcap regions. The options currently under study and the results obtained so far on the subjects outlined above will be presented.

Measurements performed with the purpose of characterizing the charged secondary radiation for dose release monitoring in particle therapy are reported. Charged secondary yields, energy spectra and emission profiles produced in poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA) target by 4He and 12C beams of different therapeutic energies were measured at 60 and 90 degree with respect to the primary beam direction. The secondary yields of protons produced along the primary beam path in PMMA target were obtained. The energy spectra of charged secondaries were obtained from time-of-flight information, whereas the emission profiles were reconstructed exploiting tracking detector information. The measured charged secondary yields and emission profiles are in agreement with the results reported in literature and confirm the feasibility of ion beam therapy range monitoring using 12C ion beam. The feasibility of range monitoring using charged secondary particles is also suggested for 4He ion beam.

The development of the β <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-</sup> based radio-guided surgery aims to extend the technique to those tumours where surgery is the only possible treatment and the assessment of the resection would most profit from the low background around the lesion, as for brain tumours. Feasibility studies on meningioma and gliomas already estimated the potentiality of this new treatment. To validate the technique, a prototype of the intraoperative probe detecting β <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-</sup> decays and specific phantoms simulating tumour remnant patterns embedded in healthy tissue have been realized. The response of the probe in this simulated environment is tested with dedicated procedures. This document discusses the innovative aspects of the method, the status of the developed intraoperative β <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-</sup> detecting probe and the results of the preclinical tests.

A novel technique for testing the timing properties of scintillators is presented. The technique is based on transient absorption (TA) induced in a scintillating material by a selective excitation of the activator ion. A figure of merit to assess the timing properties of scintillators is suggested. This parameter was estimated for a set of cerium doped lutetium–yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO:Ce) bars, which have been fabricated for Barrel Timing Layer sensor of Compact Muon Solenoid detector (CMS BTL) and exhibited different timing properties, and compared with the results obtained by conventional coincidence time resolution (CTR) measurements. The figure of merit applied for the tested bars shows a strong correlation (Pearson's correlation coefficient R = 0.95) with the CTR. These results suggest that the TA technique could be used as an experimental method to expand in a complementary way the extensive qualification procedure of LYSO:Ce crystals that will be performed for the production of the CMS BTL detector.

The barrel section of the novel MIP Timing Detector (MTD) will be constructed as part of the upgrade of the CMS experiment to provide a time resolution for single charged tracks in the range of $30-60$ ps using LYSO:Ce crystal arrays read out with Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). A major challenge for the operation of such a detector is the extremely high radiation level, of about $2\times10^{14}$ 1 MeV(Si) Eqv. n/cm$^2$, that will be integrated over a decade of operation of the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). Silicon Photomultipliers exposed to this level of radiation have shown a strong increase in dark count rate and radiation damage effects that also impact their gain and photon detection efficiency. For this reason during operations the whole detector is cooled down to about $-35^{\circ}$C. In this paper we illustrate an innovative and cost-effective solution to mitigate the impact of radiation damage on the timing performance of the detector, by integrating small thermo-electric coolers (TECs) on the back of the SiPM package. This additional feature, fully integrated as part of the SiPM array, enables a further decrease in operating temperature down to about $-45^{\circ}$C. This leads to a reduction by a factor of about two in the dark count rate without requiring additional power budget, since the power required by the TEC is almost entirely offset by a decrease in the power required for the SiPM operation due to leakage current. In addition, the operation of the TECs with reversed polarity during technical stops of the accelerator can raise the temperature of the SiPMs up to $60^{\circ}$C (about $50^{\circ}$C higher than the rest of the detector), thus accelerating the annealing of radiation damage effects and partly recovering the SiPM performance.

I-MCP is an R&D project aimed at the exploitation of secondary emission of electrons from the surface of micro-channel plates (MCP) for single ionizing particles and fast timing of showers in high rate environments. Results from tests with electrons with energies up to 50 GeV of MCP devices with different characteristics are presented. In particular detection efficiency and time resolution are measured for a range of MCP prototypes: different MCP channel diameter and layers configuration are studied. Devices operated in I-MCP configuration, where the particle detection proceed through direct ionization of the MCP layers, are studied in comparison with the more usual PMT-MCP configuration. The results show efficiencies up to 70% for single charge particle detection for I-MCP devices with a time resolution of about 40 ps. The efficiency raise to 100% in response to high energy electromagnetic showers.

Future high rate hadron colliders are expected to have hundreds of concurrent proton-proton interactions in the same bunch crossing, deteriorating the energy resolution and identification capabilities of calorimeters. The possibility to distinguish neutral particles coming from different interaction vertices is being pursued as a tool to reduce pile-up contamination in calorimeters, and restore optimal performance. A time of flight resolution of the order of 20 ps will be able to reduce neutral particles pile-up contamination at the calorimeter level by about one order of magnitude, restoring pile-up conditions similar to what is routinely sustained in the current run of the LHC . Micro-channel plates (MCP) can be used in PMT configuration as fast charged particles detector (resolution of better then 30 ps can be achieved with commercial devices). However they are not particularly radiation tolerant, mostly due to the ion feedback on the photocathode. The possibility of using micro-channel plates without a photocathode (i-MCP) has been studied in several test beams. Different MCP geometries are compared with the goal to identify the optimal configuration. Efficiency of more than 70% with a time resolution of better than 40 ps are achieved for single charged particles, leading to an efficiency close to 100% for EM shower after few radiation lengths. This opens the possibility to use i-MCPs as a timing layer in a sampling calorimeter or to use it in a pre-shower device independent from the calorimeter technology. Preliminary results on the radiation hardness of the i-MCP configuration will be also presented.

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is a multi‐purpose detector for LHC. The electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) contains 75848 lead tungstate crystals allowing a very accurate energy measurement of electrons and photons in the GeV – TeV energy range. More than two thirds of the ECAL Barrel has been already assembled.In this paper an updated analysis on the optical and scintillation properties of about 50000 crystals and an overview on the construction status of the calorimeter are presented. Furthermore, the use of crystal production measurements for the calorimeter precalibration is discussed.

The barrel of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter is currently under construction and will contain 61 200 PbWO4 crystals. Half of them are being fully characterized for dimensions, optical properties and light yield in the INFN-ENEA Regional Centre near Rome. This paper describes the measurements and results from a sample of about 6000 crystals. Results are presented on long term stability and precision of light yield and transmission measurements. A strong correlation between crystal light yield and longitudinal transmission in the range 350–370 nm is observed. As it will not be possible to precalibrate with particles the whole calorimeter, the light yield and transmission measurements performed at the Regional Centre will be crucial to provide an initial intercalibration for most crystals. Thanks to the observed correlation, transmission measurements can be combined with those of direct light yield to improve the crystal intercalibration precision. Expectations on the achievable precision are derived.

The REDACLE Project aims at the realization of a simple, flexible and fast database to assist the construction of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter.The project started in January 2003 as a backup solution for the previously used product: CRISTAL.The REDACLE database was designed to be flexible enough to be used for the construction of virtually any kind of product.One of the key element of the project was the complete decoupling between the database structure and the workflow process software: rather than being a missing feature it allows to use the database for very different projects ranging from very simple to much more complex systems.

A sampling calorimeter using cerium fluoride scintillating crystals as active material, interleaved with absorber plates made of tungsten, and read out by wavelength-shifting fibres has been tested with high-energy electron beams at the CERN SPS H4 beam line, as well as with lower-energy beams at the INFN Frascati Beam Test Facility in Italy. Energy resolution studies revealed a low stochastic term (<10%/E). This result, combined with high radiation hardness of the material used, marks this sampling calorimeter as a good candidate for the detectors׳ forward regions during the high luminosity phase of LHC.

Calibration is one of the factors that set limits on the ultimate performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) at LHC. In situ calibration with physics events will be the main tool to reduce the constant term in the energy dependent resolution function to the design goal of 0.5%. At the start of detector operation, a fast intercalibration method, based on phi symmetry in minimum bias events, will be used, exploiting the uniformity of energy deposition as a function of φ at a given η. Energetic electrons from Z → e+e− decays will be recorded at a sufficiently high rate, even at the initial low luminosity, to provide an intercalibration of calorimeter regions and to set the absolute energy scale. Once the Tracker has been commissioned, intercalibration of different crystals within a single module may be achieved using E/p measurement of isolated electrons. This calibration strategy will be described in detail and illustrated with simulated results.

The CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) comprises 75848 scintillating lead tungstate crystals. 61200 crystals are contained in the ECAL Barrel section and are read out by avalanche photodiode (APD) with internal gain of about 50. This gain is achieved with a high voltage (HV) of about 400 Volts. The gain stability requirement implies a supply voltage stable to within 0.01%. We describe our experience with the installed Barrel HV power supply system, which has been used for data taking since 2008.

The first 7 TeV LHC collisions recorded with the CMS detector have been used to perform a channel-by-channel calibration of the electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL). Decays of π° and η into two photons as well as the azimuthal symmetry of the average energy deposition at a given pseudorapidity are utilized to equalize the response of the individual channels. The ECAL comprises a central barrel section and two endcaps. Based on an integrated luminosity of ~ 100 nb−1 a channel-by-channel in-situ calibration precision of 1.15% has been achieved in the barrel ECAL in the pseudorapidity region |η| < 0.8. The energy scale of the ECAL has been investigated and found to agree with the simulation to within 1% in the barrel and 3% in the endcaps.

The High-Luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (HL-LHC) poses stringent requirements on calorimeter performance in terms of resolution, pileup resilience and radiation hardness. A tungsten-CeF <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> sampling calorimeter is a possible option for the upgrade of current detectors. A prototype, read out with different types of wavelength-shifting fibers, has been built and exposed to high energy electrons, representative for the particle energy spectrum at HL-LHC, at the CERN SPS H4 beam line. This paper shows the performance of the prototype, mainly focussing on energy resolution and uniformity. A detailed simulation has been also developed in order to compare with data and to extrapolate to different configurations to be tested in future beam tests. Additional studies on the calorimeter and the R&D projects ongoing on the various components of the experimental setup will be also discussed.

The REDACLE Project aims at the realization of a simple, flexible and fast database to assist the construction of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter. The project started in January 2003 as a backup solution for the previously used product: CRISTAL. The REDACLE database was designed to be flexible enough to be used for the construction of virtually any kind of product. One of the key element of the project was the complete decoupling between the database structure and the workflow process software: rather than being a missing feature it allows to use the database for very different projects ranging from very simple to much more complex systems.

Abstract Calibration is one of the factors that set limits on the ultimate performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) at LHC. In situ calibration with physics events will be the main tool to reduce the constant term in the energy dependent resolution function to the design goal of 0.5%. At the start of detector operation, a fast intercalibration method, based on phi symmetry in minimum bias events, will be used, exploiting the uniformity of energy deposition as a function of φ at a given η. Energetic electrons from Z → e + e − decays will be recorded at a sufficiently high rate, even at the initial low luminosity, to provide an intercalibration of calorimeter regions and to set the absolute energy scale. Once the Tracker has been commissioned, intercalibration of different crystals within a single module may be achieved using E/p measurement of isolated electrons. This calibration strategy will be described in detail and illustrated with simulated results.

ICTR-PHE 2016 S103 deformations.The dose distribution is calculated using the time-dependent tetrahedral density map issued from 4D-CT scans (Petru Manescu, 2014).Unlike image-based methods, the deposited energy is accumulated inside each deforming tetrahedron of the meshes.An implementation of this dose computation method on a deformable anatomy in the case of a passive scattering beam line is demonstrated using the Geant4 code (Agostinelli, 2003).Besides, energy values in voxel-based structures are calculated for each time step and accumulated using the transformations provided by the registration.Then, values are accumulated back onto the reference image and divided by the mass to obtain the 4D dose map. Figure 1 illustrates the process used to accumulate dose in respiratory-induced simulations.Results: The tetrahedral mesh dose distribution was compared to the conventional voxel-based structure using a thoracic 4D-CT data of a patient case.Preliminary results show that dose distributions for both representations are in a good agreement (figure 2), and dose homogeneity is about the same (table1).However, motion-induced dose accumulations are more intuitive using a tetrahedral model since they do not introduce additional uncertainties with image resampling and interpolation methods, and also for the fact that they respect mass conservation principle. Conclusion:We have developed a 4D tetrahedral model for Monte Carlo dose calculations alongside its implementation on the Geant4 platform.Results of comparison with conventional methods based on voxels have shown that dose distributions are in good agreement.This novel structure can be of a great aid for treatment planning of moving targets.An experimental validation based on 4D anthropomorphic phantom (e.g.LuCa phantom developed in paul scherrer institute) (Neihart, 2013) would draw a clear conclusion regarding the performance of the presented method in comparison with the classical methods.Nevertheless, the main advantage of this method is that, coupled with a patient-specific biomechanical model, it could be used in the future to correct motion artefacts in treatment planning.

Purpose: In Charged Particle Therapy (CPT), besides protons, there has been recently a growing interest in 4He, 12C and 16O beams. The secondary radiation produced in the interaction of those beams with a patient could be potentially used for on-line monitoring of range uncertainties in order to fully exploit the advantages of those light ions resulting from increased Radio Biological Effectiveness, reduced multiple scattering and Oxygen Enhancement Ratio. The study and precise characterization of secondary radiation (beta+, prompt gamma, charged fragments) is the cornerstone of any R&D activity aiming for online monitoring development and purpose of the analysis presented here. Methods: We present the measurements of the secondary radiation generated by He, C and O beams impinging on a beam stopping PMMA target. The data has been collected at the Heidelberg Ionbeam Therapy center (HIT), where several millions of collisions were recorded at different energies, relevant for therapeutical applications. Results: The experimental setup, as well as the analysis strategies will be reviewed. The detected particle fluxes as a function of the primary beam energy and the emission angle with respect to the beam direction will be presented and compared to the results of other available measurements. In addition, the energy spectra and emission shapes of charged secondary particles will be shown and discussed in the context of the primary beam range monitoring technique that is being developed by the ARPG collaboration, within the INSIDE project funded by the Italian research ministry. The implications for dose monitoring applications will be discussed, in the context of the current (or planned) state-of- the-art detector solutions. Conclusion: The characterization of the radiation produced by 12C, 4He and 16O beams fully supports the feasibility of on-line range monitoring in the clinical practice of CPT by means of secondary particles detection.

Purpose: Development of strategies to monitor range uncertainties is necessary to improve treatment planning in Charged Particle Therapy (CPT) and fully exploit the advantages of ion beams. Our group developed (within the framework of the INSIDE project funded by the Italian research ministry) and is currently building a compact detector Dose Profiler (DP) able to backtrack charged secondary particles produced in the patient during the irradiation. Furthermore we are studying monitoring strategy exploiting charged secondary emission profiles to control the range of the ion beam. Methods: This contribution reports on the DP detector design and construction status. The detector consists of a charged secondary tracker composed of scintillating fiber layers and a LYSO calorimeter for particles energy measurement.The detector layout has been optimized using the FLUKA Monte Carlo (MC) simulation software. The simulation of a 220 MeV Carbon beam impinging on a PMMA target has been performed to study the detector response, exploiting previous secondary radiation measurements performed by our group. The emission profile of charged secondary particles was reconstructed backtracking the particles to their generation point to benchmark the DP performances. Results: The DP construction status, including the technological details will be presented. The feasibility of range monitoring with DP will be demonstrated by means of MC studies. The correlation of the charged secondary particles emission shape with the position of the Bragg peak (BP) will be shown, as well as the spatial resolution achievable on the BP position estimation (less than 3 mm) in the clinical like conditions. Conclusion: The simulation studies supported the feasibility of an accurate range monitoring technique exploiting the use of charged secondary fragments emitted during the particle therapy treatment. The DP experimental tests are foreseen in 2016, at CNAO particle therapy center in Pavia.

Charged Particle Therapy is a technique for cancer treatment that exploits hadron beams, mostly protons and carbons. A critical issue is the monitoring of the dose released by the beam to the tumor and to the surrounding tissues. We present the design of a new tracking device for monitoring on-line the dose in ion therapy through the detection of secondary charged particles produced by the beam interactions in the patient tissues. In fact, the charged particle emission shape can be correlated with the spatial dose release and the Bragg peak position. The detector uses the information provided by 12 layers of scintillating fibers followed by a plastic scintillator and a small calorimeter made of a pixelated Lutetium Fine Silicate crystal. Simulations have been performed to evaluate the achievable spatial resolution and a possible application of the device for the monitoring of the dose profile in a real treatment is presented.

IMCP is an R&D project aimed at the exploitation of secondary emission of electrons from the surface of microchannel plates (MCP) for fast timing of showers in high rate environments. The usage of MCPs in “ionisation” mode has long been proposed and is used extensively in ion time-of-flight mass spectrometers. What has not been investigated in depth is their use to detect the ionizing component of showers. The fast time resolution of MCPs exceeds anything that has been previously used in calorimeters and, if exploited effectively, could aid in the event reconstruction at high luminosity colliders. Results from tests with electrons with energies up to 150 GeV of MCP devices with different characteristics will be presented, in particular detection efficiency and time resolution.

We report on potential for measurement of inclusive W and Z boson production cross section using initial data from the LHC. We have designed W and Z triggers, selection algorithms, and event reconstruction techniques for both muon and electron decay modes, for low luminosity operation of the LHC integrating up to about 10 pb-1. Initial calibrations and alignment accuracies are assumed. While the accuracy of the cross section extracted will be dominated by the integral luminosity measurement, ratios of W and Z production, and asymmetry distributions will be important early measurements from LHC.

Calibration is one of the main factors that set limits on the ultimate performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter at LHC. Crystals raw intercalibration from lab measurements during assembly and CERN-SPS test beam of Supermodules will represent the precalibration at the start-up. In situ calibration with physics events will be the main tool to reduce the constant term to the design goal of 0.5%. The calibration strategy will be described in detail.

The electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at LHC will consist of about 76000 Lead Tungstate crystals. Its main purpose is the very precise energy measurement of electrons and photons produced at 14 TeV centre‐of‐mass energy. A review of its performances and its construction status is given. Then the calibration strategy is described in details.