The proton zero degree calorimeter for the ALICE experiment

The proton zero degree calorimeter (ZP) for the ALICE experiment will measure the energy of the spectator protons in heavy ion collisions. The ZP is a spaghetti calorimeter, which collects and measures the Cherenkov light produced by the shower particles in silica optical fibres embedded in a brass absorber. The details of its construction will be shown. The calorimeter has been tested at the CERN SPS in July 2004 with pion and electron beams of various momenta ranging from 50 to 200 GeV/c. The linearity of the response of the calorimeter and its energy resolution as a function of the beam energy have been measured. The preliminary results of the test are presented.