The GlueX central drift chamber: Design and performance

Tests and studies concerning the design and performance of the GlueX Central Drift Chamber (CDC) are presented. A full-scale prototype was built to test and steer the mechanical and electronic design. Small scale prototypes were constructed to test for sagging and to do timing and resolution studies of the detector. These studies were used to choose the gas mixture and to program a Monte Carlo simulation that can predict the detector response in an external magnetic field. Particle identification and charge division possibilities were also investigated.