Alignment of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) in space

Abstract

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a precision particle physics detector operating at an altitude of 410 km aboard the International Space Station. The AMS silicon tracker, together with the permanent magnet, measures the rigidity (momentum/charge) of cosmic rays in the range from 0.5 GV to several TV. In order to have accurate rigidity measurements, the positions of more than 2000 tracker modules have to be determined at the micron level by an alignment procedure. The tracker was first aligned using the 400 GeV/c proton test beam at CERN and then re-aligned using cosmic-ray events after being launched into space. A unique method to align the permanent magnetic spectrometer for a space experiment is presented. The developed underlying mathematical algorithm is discussed in detail.