DIRAC CollaborationAdeva Andany, BernardoGómez Rodríguez, FaustinoLópez Aguera, María de los ÁngelesPló Casasús, MáximoRomero Vidal, AntonioSantamarina Ríos, CibránSaborido Silva, Juan JoséVázquez Regueiro, PabloZrelov, P.2025-01-302025-01-302003-12-11Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment Volume 515, Issue 3, 11 December 2003, Pages 467-4960168-9002https://hdl.handle.net/10347/39313The DIRAC spectrometer has been commissioned at CERN with the aim of detecting π+π− atoms produced by a 24 GeV/c high intensity proton beam in thin foil targets. A challenging apparatus is required to cope with the high interaction rates involved, the triggering of pion pairs with very low relative momentum, and the measurement of the latter with resolution around 0.6 MeV/c. The general characteristics of the apparatus are explained and each part is described in some detail. The main features of the trigger system, data-acquisition, monitoring and setup performances are also given.engAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/DIRAC experimentDouble arm spectrometerPion scatteringExperimental techniquesElementary atom2207 Física atómica y nuclearjournal article10.1016/j.nima.2003.08.114open access