A New Method for the High-Precision Alignment of Track Detectors

Track detectors in high energy physics experiments require an accurate determination of a large number of alignment parameters. A general method has been developed, which allows the determination of up to several thousand alignment parameters in a simultaneous linear least squares fit of an arbitrary number of tracks. The sensitivity of the method is demonstrated in an example of the simultaneous alignment of a 56-plane drift chamber and a 2-plane silicon tracker. About 1400 alignment parameters are determined in a fit of about fifty thousand tracks.