Upgrading the CMS muon chamber electronics

Ongoing upgrades are currently underway to enhance the CMS muon chamber electronics, paving the way for the High-Luminosity LHC era. The focus is on installing a new electronic system for the Drift Tube (DT) chambers, with teams beginning to install the mini crates containing the electronic boards responsible for reading out and controlling the DT chambers. By 2028, all 250 muon chambers within the CMS barrel will be equipped with these mini crates.

The newly introduced boards boast the remarkable ability to digitize signals from muons passing through the DTs with unprecedented nanosecond-level precision. Once digitized, the information is swiftly transmitted via high-speed optical links to the backend electronics. This upgraded architecture aims to significantly improve the performance of the CMS trigger system, which is crucial in selecting intriguing collisions from the countless that occur every second at the heart of the detector.

Remarkably, even before the completion of the upgrade, the first DT chamber featuring the new electronics has already started recording real signals from muons generated by cosmic rays. These cosmic rays strike Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in showers of secondary particles. These early measurements mark the first real data generated by the future CMS DT system, signaling a significant milestone in the ongoing upgrade efforts.