Prototypes of the FERMI system have been used to read out a prototype of the ATLAS hadron calorimeter in a beam test at the CERN SPS. The FERMI read-out system, using a compressor and a sampling ADC, is compared to a standard charge integrating read-out by measuring the energy resolution of the calorimeter separately with the two systems on the same events.Signal processing techniques have been designed to optimize the treatment of FERMI data. The resulting energy resolution is better than the one obtained with the standard read-out. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

A study of high energy muons traversing the ATLAS hadron the calorimeter in the barrel region in the energy range between 10 and 300 GeV is presented. Both test beam experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations are given and show good agreement. The Tile calorimeter capability of detecting isolated muons over the above energy range is demonstrated. A signal to background ratio of about 10 is expected for the nominal LHC luminosity (10(34) l/cm(2) s). The photoelectron statistics effect in the muon shape response is shown. The e/mip ratio is found to be 0.81 +/- 0.03; the e/mu ratio is in the range 0.91-0.97.The energy loss of a muon in the calorimeter, dominated by the energy lost in the absorber, can be correlated to the energy loss in the active material. This correlation allows one to correct on an event by event basis the muon energy loss in the calorimeter and therefore reduce the low energy tails in the muon momentum distribution.

The first prototype of a scintillator tile hadron calorimeter with longitudinal tile orientation and wavelength shifting fiber readout has been built and tested with pion, electron and muon beams at the CERN SPS. This innovative geometry combines good performance and a simple and cost effective assembly procedure. Calibration and monitoring of this detector have also been investigated.