Towards a precise measurement of particle time-of-flight with the new MIP Timing Detector with the CMS experiment (∗)

The design and primary use cases of the novel MIP Timing Detector (MTD), introduced by the CMS experiment for its High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) Phase-II upgrade, are here described. The strategy for its application to 4D vertex reconstruction is outlined, with a focus on the latest developments in uncertainty estimation. The introduction of a new source of uncertainty on track times, namely particle time of flight uncertainty, is discussed, along with its estimation strategy and comparison to MTD uncertainty. This additional contribution is non-negligible for low-momentum heavy particles, such as protons with p less than or similar to 2 GeV; however, impact on final vertex performance has been found to be minimal.