BOOK OF ABSTRACTS AND CONTRIBUTED PAPERS - International Meeting on Data for Atomic and Molecular Processes in Plasmas: Advances in Standards and Modelling, Page 27-28, https://doi.org/10.69646/aob241107
BOOK OF ABSTRACTS AND CONTRIBUTED PAPERS - International Meeting on Data for Atomic and Molecular Processes in Plasmas: Advances in Standards and Modelling, November 12-15, 2024, Palić, Serbia, Edited by Vladimir A. Srećković, Aleksandra Kolarski, Milica Langović, Filip Arnaut and Nikola Veselinović
Published by: Institute of Physics Belgrade

Resistive plate chambers (RPCs) are parallel plate gaseous detectors commonly used for timing and triggering purposes in many high-energy physics experiments. RPCs are employed at CERN-LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiments due to their excellent time resolution, high-rate capability, and relatively low production cost (Rigoletti et al. 2020). They also play a key role in direct measurements of muons in air showers (Abreu et al. 2018) and in some neutrino observatories (Kumar et al. 2017). RPCs are operated with a gas mixture consisting of C₂H₂F₄ (between 90% and 95%), a smaller fraction of i-C₄H₁₀ (around 5%) and SF₆ (usually between 0.3% and 1%). C₂H₂F₄ and SF₆ are well-known greenhouse gases with a global warming potential of respectively 1430 and 22800. The substitution of C₂H₂F₄ and SF₆ with environmentally friendly alternatives is one of the major challenges in current RPC technology. C₂H₂F₄ can be substituted with either a mixture of C₂H₂F₄ and CO₂, or a mixture of C₃H₂F₄ and CO₂, or eventually a mixture of C₃H₂F₄ and He (Rigoletti et al. 2020, Abbrescia et al. 2024). On the other hand, CF₃I, C₄F₇N and C₅F₁₀O were considered as alternatives to SF₆ (Guida et al. 2022). The performance of the detector, including detection efficiency, time resolution, and streamer occurrence, with these gases and mixtures has only been tested experimentally so far. This work presents the first comprehensive modelling study of RPCs that operate with the new generation of environmentally friendly gases and corresponding mixtures.We approached the problem in three stages. We start by presenting complete and consistent cross-section sets for electron scattering in C₂H₂F₄ and C₃H₂F₄. A cross-section set for electron scattering in C₃HF₅ is also developed, as this gas could also be considered as an alternative to C₂H₂F₄. The accuracy of cross-section sets was tested and validated through a series of comparisons between swarm data calculated using a numerical solution of Boltzmann’s equ ... - FULL TEXT available in PDF.