Compensation Effects in Hadron Calorimeters

The pros and cons of utilizing a fissionable material such as 238U to compensate for the nuclear binding energy losses in a hadron calorimeter are discussed. Fissionable material can return some lost energy to the particle cascade in terms of low-energy neutrons and gamma rays, but electromagnetic sampling inefficiencies (often called transition effects) and the detection medium which tries to convert this energy to a useable signal are just as important.