Development of a GEM-TPC prototype

The use of GEM foils for the amplification stage of a TPC instead of a conventional MWPC allows one to bypass the necessity of gating, as the backdrift is suppressed thanks to the asymmetric field configuration. This way, a novel continuously running TPC, which represents one option for the PANDAcentral tracker, can be realized. A medium sized prototype with a diameter of 300 mm and a length of 600mm will be tested inside the FOPI spectrometer at GSI using a carbon or lithium beam at intermediate energies (E=1-3AGeV). This detector test under realistic experimental conditions should allow us to verify the spatial resolution for single tracks and the reconstruction capability for displaced vertexes. A series of physics measurement implying pion beams is scheduled with the FOPI spectrometer together with the GEM-TPC as well.