Examining electronic configurations in ATLAS Pixel detector for Phase-II Upgrade

The Pixel Detector is a critical component of the ATLAS experiment, providing precise tracking information for charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions. To increase the potential of rare processes occurring and the precision of measurements of these interactions, the LHC will undergo a Phase-II upgrade to increase machine luminosity; the ATLAS detector will be upgraded to improve performance in this new environment. Unlike the current Inner Detector, the front-end electronics for the ITk detector will not be capable of disabling the readout of isolated low charge hits not consistent with Minimum Ionizing Particles (MIPs). To analyze these hits, a unique run was taken at the start of Run 3 with altered Hit Disc Configuration (HDC) settings, which causes small hits to be read out only when neighboring large hits. With the altered configuration, all small hits were read out regardless of their location. Due to uncertainties in simulation accuracy for predicting isolated hit rates, existing data is crucial for assessing the overall contribution. Results indicate a slight increase in occupancy, but the overall effect on detector readout is minimal, suggesting these hits do not contribute to bandwidth concerns, especially if current measurements represent an upper bound.