Measuring the ATLAS ITk Pixel Detector Material via Multiple Scattering of Positrons at the CERN PS

The ITk is a new silicon tracker for the ATLAS experiment designed to increase detector resolution, readout capacity, and radiation hardness, in preparation for the larger number of simultaneous proton-proton interactions at the High Luminosity LHC. This paper presents the first direct measurement of the material budget of an ATLAS ITk pixel module, performed at a testbeam at the CERN Proton Synchrotron via the multiple scattering of low energy positrons within the module volume. Using a four plane telescope of thin monolithic pixel detectors from the MALTA collaboration, scattering datasets were recorded at a beam energy of $1.2\text{GeV}$. Kink angle distributions were extracted from tracks derived with and without information from the ITk pixel module, and were fit to extract the RMS scattering angle, which was converted to a fractional radiation length $x\mathrm{/}{X}_0$. The average $x\mathrm{/}{X}_0$ across the module was measured as $[0.89\pm 0.01\text{ (resolution)}\pm 0.01\text{ (subtraction)}\pm 0.08\text{ (beam momentum band)}]\mathrm{\%}$, which agrees within uncertainties with an estimate of $0.88\mathrm{\%}$ derived from material component expectations.