MIRACLE Lab: a fast automatic system to perform the analysis of high-multiplicity events in nuclear emulsion chambers

A nearly full-automatic system for analyzing very high-multiplicity events in nuclear emulsion chambers is presented. It consists of a microscope, equipped with a stepper motor-driven stage, a CCD-camera, and a frame grabber. All these parts (hardware) are controlled by a microcomputer. We describe the image processing, track recognition, and event reconstruction. The system has been used to analyze high-multiplicity interactions (Au+Ag at 10.7 AGeV/c and Pb+Pb at 158 AGeV/c). The automatically measured events are in good agreement with the manually measured ones.