Performance of Particle Flow Calorimetry at CLIC

The particle flow approach to calorimetry can provide unprecedented jet energy resolution at a future high energy collider, such as the International Linear Collider (ILC). However, the use of particle flow calorimetry at the proposed multi-TeV Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) poses a number of significant new challenges. At higher jet energies, detector occupancies increase, and it becomes increasingly difficult to resolve energy deposits from individual particles. The experimental conditions at CLIC are also significantly more challenging than those at previous electron-positron colliders, with increased levels of beam-induced backgrounds combined with a bunch spacing of only 0.5 ns. This paper describes the modifications made to the PandoraPFA particle flow algorithm to improve the jet energy reconstruction for jet energies above 250 GeV. It then introduces a combination of timing and p_T cuts that can be applied to reconstructed particles in order to significantly reduce the background. A systematic study is performed to understand the dependence of the jet energy resolution on the jet energy and angle, and the physics performance is assessed via a study of the energy and mass resolution of W and Z particles in the presence of background at CLIC. Finally, the missing transverse momentum resolution is presented, and the fake missing momentum is quantified. The results presented in this paper demonstrate that high granularity particle flow calorimetry leads to a robust and high resolution reconstruction of jet energies and di-jet masses at CLIC.