A Study of a New Concept of High Resolution Hadron Calorimeter

We present a novel calorimeter concept capable of achieving energy resolution better than 25%/radicE for single hadrons and jets. The energy resolution improvement is achieved by utilizing the Cerenkov photon signal as an estimator of the energy loss due to nuclear processes. We demonstrate the excellent energy resolution for the case of a large homogeneous calorimeter by GEANT4 simulation. We also investigate a possible design of a sampling calorimeter involving alternating lead glass and scintillator planes. This design enables construction of a calorimeter with arbitrary segmentation in the transverse direction and in depth, as is required by many high-energy physics experiments. Such a calorimeter would at the same time enable excellent energy resolution for electrons and photons.