The Structure of an Automatic Decision System for a Large Number of Independent Particle Detectors

Abstract

The interest for large underground particle detector is increasing. Phenomena as proton decay and long base line neutrino oscillation are subject for many research projects over the world. Large detectors present also some problems regarding the large number of signals from independent photo multiplier tubes (PMTs). A realistic statistical model for numerical simulation of signal processing and sampling has been developed for the case of a large number of independent particle detectors (LNIPDs). Based on this analytical model of Poisson type, the structure of an automatic decision system based on the decision criterion of maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) or the maximum likelihood (ML) criterion is proposed. The purpose of the system is to analyze the exit from the measurement process and to decode the message transmitted, taking into account the presence of the noise which generates errors in the decoder. The system can be used later for detailed simulation of different types of huge underground particle detectors (like LAGUNA-LBNO experiment), where the large number of signals could become a real problem.