Aging and Calibration Studies of sPHENIX Hadronic Calorimeter Scintillating Tiles

sPHENIX will soon probe the hot, dense state of nuclear matter known as Quark-Gluon Plasma at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The sPHENIX Hadronic Calorimeter (HCal) measures the energies of incoming particles from the collisions. The HCal achieves this with scintillating tiles that produce light when struck by a particle. The light is then routed to an SiPM, and digitized. To calibrate the detector, the tiles were tested using cosmic rays to determine the performance characteristics. We are continuing to test a small selection of these scintillating tiles to determine the aging characteristics of their performance. Calibrations will also be monitored and adjusted while sPHENIX is collecting data, as it is expected that the SiPMs in the detector will suffer from radiation damage. There are currently two methods being considered; one is to continue to take cosmic ray data, and the other is to shine an LED on the tiles to see any change in performance. Comparisons of those two methods are currently underway. This poster will present the results of these studies and the results of the aging tests.