0000000001269941
AUTHOR
V Palladino
Search for K+ decays to a muon and invisible particles
The NA62 experiment at CERN reports searches for $K^+\to\mu^+N$ and $K^+\to\mu^+\nu X$ decays, where $N$ and $X$ are massive invisible particles, using the 2016-2018 data set. The $N$ particle is assumed to be a heavy neutral lepton, and the results are expressed as upper limits of ${\cal O}(10^{-8})$ of the neutrino mixing parameter $|U_{\mu4}|^2$ for $N$ masses in the range 200-384 MeV/$c^2$ and lifetime exceeding 50 ns. The $X$ particle is considered a scalar or vector hidden sector mediator decaying to an invisible final state, and upper limits of the decay branching fraction for $X$ masses in the range 10-370 MeV/$c^2$ are reported for the first time, ranging from ${\cal O}(10^{-5})$ t…
Measurement of the intrinsic electron neutrino component in the T2K neutrino beam with the ND280 detector
The T2K experiment has reported the first observation of the appearance of electron neutrinos in a muon neutrino beam. The main and irreducible background to the appearance signal comes from the presence in the neutrino beam of a small intrinsic component of electron neutrinos originating from muon and kaon decays. In T2K, this component is expected to represent 1.2% of the total neutrino flux. A measurement of this component using the near detector (ND280), located 280 m from the target, is presented. The charged current interactions of electron neutrinos are selected by combining the particle identification capabilities of both the time projection chambers and electromagnetic calorimeters…
Measurement of Neutrino Oscillation Parameters from Muon Neutrino Disappearance with an Off-Axis Beam
The T2K Collaboration reports a precision measurement of muon neutrino disappearance with an off-axis neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. Near detector measurements are used to constrain the neutrino flux and cross section parameters. The Super-Kamiokande far detector, which is 295 km downstream of the neutrino production target, collected data corresponding to 3.01 x 10(20) protons on target. In the absence of neutrino oscillations, 205 +/- 17 (syst) events are expected to be detected while only 58 muon neutrino event candidates are observed. A fit to the neutrino rate and energy spectrum, assuming three neutrino flavors and normal mass hierarchy yields a best-fit mixing angle sin…
The beam and detector of the NA62 experiment at CERN
NA62 is a fixed-target experiment at the CERN SPS dedicated to measurements of rare kaon decays. Such measurements, like the branching fraction of the $K^{+} \rightarrow \pi^{+} \nu \bar\nu$ decay, have the potential to bring significant insights into new physics processes when comparison is made with precise theoretical predictions. For this purpose, innovative techniques have been developed, in particular, in the domain of low-mass tracking devices. Detector construction spanned several years from 2009 to 2014. The collaboration started detector commissioning in 2014 and will collect data until the end of 2018. The beam line and detector components are described together with their early …
Large-angle production of charged pions with 3-12.9 GeV/c incident protons on nuclear targets
Measurements of the double-differential pi(+/-) production cross section in the momentum range 100 <= p <= 800 MeV/c and angle range 0.35 <= theta <= 2.15 rad in proton-beryllium, proton-carbon, proton-aluminium, proton-copper, proton-tin, proton-tantalum, and proton-lead collisions are presented. The data were taken with the large-acceptance HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. The pions were produced by proton beams in a momentum range from 3 to 12.9 GeV/c hitting a target with a thickness of 5% of a nuclear interaction length. Tracking and identification of the produced particles was performed by using a small-radius cylindrical Time Projection Chamber (TPC) placed inside a …
Kaon physics at the CERN-SPS
The NA48/2 and NA62 collaborations report on recent results, current status, and prospects of kaon physics at the CERN-SPS. The NA62 collaborations aims to measure the decay [Formula: see text] with an uncertainty of 10% or better. The NA62 detector and preliminary results from a pilot run in 2014 are presented. In addition, recent results of the NA48/2 collaboration are reported. A search for Dark Photons has been performed in [Formula: see text] decays via the kaon decays [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. No dark photon signal was observed and new upper limits on the mixing parameter [Formula: see text] and the dark photon mass were computed. We also report the first observati…