TORCH pattern recognition and particle identification performance

The TORCH detector aims to provide K/π (K/p) separation up to a momentum of about 10 (15) by measuring their time-of-flight at the LHCb detector. Prompt Cherenkov photons are produced in a quartz radiator bar of 10 mm thickness, and propagated via total internal reflection to the periphery of the detector, where they are focused onto an array of microchannel plate photomultipliers that measure the photon arrival time and position. Pattern recognition techniques are used to compare the likelihood that the detector image is due to a given particle hypothesis. Good performance is obtained even for very high detector occupancies.