Simple formulae for light-yield considerations in the design of scintillator-Fe and scintillator-Pb sampling calorimeters

Recent designs of sampling hadron and electromagnetic calorimeters for hadron collider experiments incorporate scintillating tile-fiber technology in which scintillation light is transported to phototubes through optical fibers. A major technical challenge has been to develop designs in which energy resolution is not limited by low photostatistics. Minimum light yield requirements in scintillator-Fe and scintillator-Pb sampling calorimeters are discussed, and several simple formulae are derived for estimating the contribution of photostatistics to energy resolution without resorting to detailed Monte Carlo calculations.