Muon-pion discrimination using a sampling calorimeter and discriminant analysis techniques

The separation of muons from pions in the momentum range of 1-9GeV/c poses a difficult technical problem when large areas of acceptance are required because of their similarity in mass. Through the use of a sampling calorimeter with uniformly distributed cell sizes, and discriminant analysis techniques, we show that separation can be achieved using their different natures (hadronic versus leptonic) to a level of about 2% at 2GeV/c when a real muon acceptance level of 97% is required. Separation is better at higher momenta (1%) and worse at lower momenta (10%) for the same real muon acceptance level. In addition, minimum segmentation requirements are reported for necessary levels of separation in the forthcoming PHENIX Experiment.