Chemical Mitosis (PI: Oliver Trapp, LMU)

• Oliver Trapp (LMU, Department of Chemistry)

The aim of this project is to initiate a probiotic process at the molecular level, which converts sugar-like precursors into lipids that form lipid layers in a self-organizing manner and have the possibility to continue the process and trigger an artificial cell division. This is achieved by activating a suitable molecular precursor by an organocatalyst and thus imitating the biochemical equivalent of coenzyme A. The kinetics of such a reaction will be studied in detail and will be the basis for the formation of glycerides, leading to the formation of lipids, artificial cells and cell growth from small organic molecules.

Self-triggering muon drift chambers (PIs S. Kortner, H. Kroha, MPP)

• Oliver Kortner (MPP)

The experiments at future high-energy colliders like the Future Circular Collider (FCC) will have large muon systems which need to be instrumented in a cost effective way with chamber offering high spatial and angular resolution in an environment of large gamma background fluxes. The re- cently published conceptual design of a detector for the FCC hadron collider uses chambers with cylindrical pressurized drift-tubes for the precision position and angle measurement in the bending plane of the muon system and resistive plate chambers for the determination of the event time and the hit coordinates in the non-bending plane with cm resolution. The longevity of present resistive plate chambers is not guaranteed for the regions of large gamma background. This problem could be overcome with self-triggering drift-tube chambers with 3 dimensional position measurement. These chambers would simplify the design of the muon system and also reduce its cost substantially. Modern time-to-digital converter chips with ps time resolution make it possible to measure the hit position in the non-bending plane from the delay time difference of the tube signals on the two ends of the tubes with sufficient precision. Gigabit optical links can be used to stream off the hit data to a high-performance FPGA for real-time track reconstruction which also yields the event time. In this seed project a prototype of a self-ttiggering muon drift tube chamber shall be built using ps resolution TDC chips and an ATCA blade with two high-performance FPGA and high-speed links.

A compact and triggerless multi-channel sampling-ADC for particle detectors (PIs Jan Friedrich, Stephan Paul,TUM)

• Jan Friedrich (TUM)

In the project proposed here, we plan to develop a compact multi-channel sampling-ADC system that can be used to read out a variety of particle detectors. The system will be based on a legacy system we have been using successfully for many years at the COMPASS experiment at CERN and will be compatible with the triggerless data acquisition system we develop for the new COMPASS++/AMBER experiment. The 256-channel system we intend to build as final deliverable of the project, however, will be primarily used as a portable setup for testing and characterizing detectors being built by our group and other groups of ORIGINS. The ADC will have a 12-bit resolution at a sampling rate of 80 or 160 MS/s and will therefore be suitable for many different detector types.

Electret Micro Pattern Gaseous Detector (PI O. Biebel, D. Schaile, LMU)

• Christoph Jagfeld (LMU)

The goal is to develop a micro pattern gaseous detector which can be used autonomously of high voltage supply. This can be achieved by using an electret material to provide a permanent electric field for the gas amplification of the signal. This detector might be an excellent choice for long term measurements where a low weight is mandatory e.g. satellites.

Spin-sensitive ultra-cold neutron detection (PI P. Fierlinger, TUM)

• Hanno Filter (Atominstitut der TU Wien)

Funding for a new spin-dependent ultra-cold neutron detector is requested. The new detector has the potential to enhance statistics in existing experiments in the field by a factor of four, using in principle established technology in a new configuration. It is planned to build a demonstrator detector and test it to understand its potential and challenges within this seed project, serving as the basis for a new DFG proposal.

Meanders to count neutrons (PIs R. Gernhäuser, P. Fierlinger, TUM)

• Peter Fierlinger (TU München)

We propose to explore a novel neutron detection concept, which potentially enables future neutron EDM measurements with 10-29 ecm sensitivity, a factor 1000 enhancement to the state of the art, without requiring new beam lines or facilities. It is based on a switchable superconducting wire, which can pull one spin state of trapped ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) via acceleration in a magnetic gradient through the wall of a trap, directly into a detector. The new device allows for performing UCN experiments inside the UCN production volume, removing almost all sources of losses and simplifying experiments massively. We can perform first exploratory tests with neutrons at existing instruments and do the development at the physics department.

Interactive visualization of 3D galactic dust maps (PI T. Enßlin, MPA, LMU)

• Reimar Leike (Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)

Dust plays a central role in galactic physics, it obscures the view on stars by its optical light absorption, and confuses our view on the cosmic microwave background by its emission of the absorbed energy at longer wavelength. Thus, knowing the 3D dust distribution in the Milky Way is of paramount importance for a number of scientific questions, ranging from understanding ISM chemical processes like the formation of proto-biological molecules, over star formation, Galactic magnetism, to cosmology. A high resolution 3D Galactic dust reconstruction is currently in preparation by us and preliminary results are very encouraging. The resulting data are estimated to be about several Terabytes. We want to set up an interactive visualization and data provision service for optimal data dissemination of 3D Galactic dust reconstructions to the broader astrophysical community.

Test of a prototype production facility for resistive plate chambers (PI Kroha, MPP)

• Hubert Kroha (MPP)

Setup and test of a prototype production facility for thin-gap Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) The goal of the seed money project is to take the next step and demonstrate in the laboratory that a production of real-size thin-gap RPC chambers is feasible with industrializable production techniques. For this purpose a small production facility has to be set up at MPP for which we apply for seed money. The design and drawings have been produced such that the installation of the setup can start at the beginning of next year as soon as funding is available. The goal would be to have first RPC chambers produced and tested middle of next year. There is a certain urgency to make the technology available for HL-LHC detector production which has to start in about two years.

Readout chip architecture for very high counting rates in precision muon detectors at future colliders (PI Kroha, MPP)

• Hubert Kroha (MPP)

Development of a amplifier shaper discriminator (ASD) prototype chip with active baseline restoration in 65 nm CMOS technology The goal of the seed money project is to show that the fast baseline restoration methods can be implemented in a modern CMOS chip technology as required for a collider experiment with order 100000 electronics channels. Possible modifications of the discrete circuit architecture have to be studied in order to make them suitable for the CMOS chip design. 65 nm CMOS is chosen as the currently highest integration technology which is readily available now for R&D projects with multi- project wafers and is expected to be available also for longer time in the future. A group of external chip designers has been identified who have experience with similar analog chip design for the ATLAS muon project and with 65 nm CMOS technology and can make a preliminary chip design according to the already studied architecture including submission for prototype fabrication within the next year for a price of 100000 EUR for the whole required year. To do this is the next crucial step of the R&D project to develop a muon detector including readout electronics for very high counting rates at future colliders beyond HL-LHC. The milestones are a first chip design in June 2021 and the final design for submission for a prototype production in October/November 2021.