Track Models

Abstract

AbstractThe chapter shows how the equations of motion for charged particles in a homogeneous or inhomogeneous magnetic field are solved. Various types of parametrizations are presented, and formulas for track propagation and error propagation are derived. As the effects of the detector material on the trajectory have to be taken into account, the statistical properties of multiple Coulomb scattering, energy loss by ionization, and energy loss by bremsstrahlung are discussed; then it is shown how the effects can be treated in the track reconstruction. As multiple scattering in thin layers and energy loss by bremsstrahlung have distinctive non-Gaussian features, an approximation by normal mixtures is presented.