Speaker
Description
The Backward Hadronic Calorimeter (nHCal, negative-pseudo-rapidity HCal) is a tail catcher sampling calorimeter under development for the Electron-Proton/Ion Collider (ePIC) detector, the first to be built at the Electron Ion Collider. Its purpose is to enhance measurements of diffractive production of vector mesons and dijets in $e+p$ and $e+A$ collisions. These processes probe the partonic structure of nuclei and protons in the kinematic region of very low $x\approx 10^{-5}-10^{-3}$, the access to which is a crucial goal of the EIC mission. In order to perform such measurements, the detector has to be optimized for neutron detection efficiency and muon identification efficiency. Furthermore, it has to provide a spatial resolution necessary to isolate neutral and charged hadronic showers. The nHCal is planned to be built using non-magnetic steel and plastic scintillator to cover the range of pseudorapidity $-4.16<\eta<-1.16$, which corresponds to the electron-going direction.
This talk will present the basic concept and physics accessible with nHCal. It will also introduce design solutions and considerations as well as the current status of development.
