This section concerns only the TOF, since the CTB does not provide timing information.
A rough relative calibration can be obtained by comparing the raw time distributions from the TDC's over many events. The leading edge of such a distribution should be proportional to the path length from the interaction point to the counter. Unfortunately the path length for a given counter is not a constant since the interaction point varies event-by-event. This variation will make this relative calibration more complicated. However we think that a fast relative calibration can be obtained using this technique. As in the case of the amplitude, this kind of analysis could be performed on-line and should be included in the monitoring tasks of the TOF slow-controls.
A absolute calibration of the TOF requires TPC information. The present ideas are based on the comparison of the reconstructed particle masses with a given counter with the nominal mass values. This procedure is only possible off-line since the full tracking capabilities of the STAR detector will be required.