Evidence for compensation and study of lateral shower development in Si/U hadron calorimeters

In a Si/U hadron calorimeter, a combination of low-Z and high-Z materials used as absorber enables the reduction of the calorimeter response to the electromagnetic component of the incoming hadronic showers (the "local hardening effect"). As a result, a ratio varying from e/pi > 1 to e/pi < 1 is obtained as a function of the low-Z material thickness, demonstrating the possibility of achieving the compensation condition (e/pi = 1).