Eco-friendly resistive plate chamber detectors for HEP applications

Resistive Plate Chamber detectors are largely employed in current High Energy Physics experiments, thanks to their relatively low cost and good spatial/time resolution. They are typically operated in avalanche mode with large fractions of Tetrafluoroethane (C2H2F4), a gas recently banned by the European Union due to its high Global Warming Potential (GWP). An intense R&D activity is ongoing to improve RPC technology in view of present and future High Energy Particle Physics (HEP) applications. Since a few years, a joint effort among the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, LHCb/SHiP and CERN Detector Technology (EP-DT) Communities is in place to search for potential eco-friendly gas mixtures and assess the performance of RPCs under different irradiation conditions. Tests are in progress at the CERN Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF++). In this paper, a review on the promising results of these studies and future plans will be given.