Construction and test of a full-scale prototype of an ATLAS muon spectrometer tracking chamber

We have built a full scale prototype of the precision tracking chambers (Monitored Drift Tubes, MDT) for the muon spectrometer of the Atlas Experiment at the LHC collider. This article describes in detail the procedures used in constructing the drift tubes and in assembling the chamber. It presents data showing that the required mechanical precision has been achieved as well as test beam results displaying the over all chamber performance. The article presents data demonstrating the derivation of the space-time relation of the drift tubes by the autocalibration procedure using real data from the tracks crossing the chamber. Autocalibration is the procedure which must be used during run time. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.