The CALICE digital hadron calorimeter: calibration and response to pions and positrons
In order to measure the jet products of the hadronic decays of electroweak bosons in a future lepton collider with 3-4% resolution, a novel approach named Particle Flow Algorithms is proposed. The Particle Flow Algorithms attempt to measure each particle in a hadronic jet individually, using the detector providing the best energy/momentum resolution. The role of the hadronic calorimeters is to measure the neutral component of the hadronic jets. In this context, the CALICE Collaboration developed the Digital Hadron Calorimeter, which uses Resistive Plate Chambers as active media. The 1-bit resolution (digital) readout of 1 × 1 cm2 pads achieves a world record in the number of readout channels already at the prototyping stage. Here we report on the results from the analysis of pion events of momenta between 2 to 60 GeV/c collected in the Fermilab test beam with an emphasis on the intricate calibration procedures.