Particle identification via transition radiation and detectors

Transition radiation detectors show great promise for the purposes of lepton identification in existing and future experiments in high-energy physics such as HERA-B, ATLAS, ALICE in high-luminosity environment. More high performance can be expected in low-luminosity conditions - neutrino experiments (NOMAD), and ideal condition for the use of transition radiation detectors in flying and space high-energy experiments (AMS). This paper discusses the practical theory of transition radiation, basic equation and algorithm suitable for detailed analysis of transition radiation and optimization of transition radiation detectors in the area of experimental high-energy physics. The results are based on detailed Monte Carlo simulation of transition radiation introduced in GEANT and experimental results. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.