4 pages, 2 figures; talk presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Symmetries in Subatomic Physics (SSP 2009), held at the National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2-5 June 2009; to appear in "Symmetries in Subatomic Physics", P. Hwang, ed., North Holland.
We review the recent measurements of the rare pion decays: Pi+ -> Pi0 e+ Nu [pion beta, Pi_(e3), or Pi_beta decay], radiative decay Pi+ -> e+ Nu Gamma [Pi_(e2Gamma) or RPD], and Pi+ -> e+ Nu [Pi_(e2)] decay, as well as the radiative muon decay, Mu -> e Nu Nu-bar Gamma, their theoretical implications, and prospects for further improvement.
There exists a longstanding disagreement between bubble chamber measurements of the single pion production channel $ν_μp\rightarrow μ^{-}pπ^{+}$ from the Argonne and Brookhaven National Laboratories. We digitize and reanalyse data from both experiments to produce cross-section ratios for various interaction channels, for which the flux uncertainties cancel, and find good agreement between the experiments. By multiplying the cross-section ratio by the well-understood charged current quasi-elastic cross-section on free nucleons, we extract single-pion production cross-sections which do not depen…
Simple dynamics, few available decay channels, and extremely well controlled radiative and loop corrections, make pion and muon decays a sensitive means for testing the underlying symmetries, the universality of weak fermion couplings, as well as for study of pion structure and chiral dynamics. We review the current state of experimental study of the allowed rare decays of charged pions: (a) electronic, $π^+ \to e^+ν_e$, or $π_{e2}$, (b) radiative, $π^+ \to e^+ν_eγ$, or $π_{e2γ}$, and (c) semileptonic, $π^+\to π^0 e^+ ν$, or $π_{e3}$, as well as muon radiative decay, $μ^+\to e^+ ν_{\text{e}}\b…
In the present work, we investigate several theoretical models of the pion vector form factor and aim at getting the best fit for the two-pion cross sections to reduce the uncertainties of the calculation of two-pion contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment. Combined with a polynomial description to the pion vector form factor, we obtain the best fit from the Gounaris-Sakurai (or Kühn-Santamaria) model for the experimental data up to 1 GeV. By product, the branching ratio of $ω\to ππ$ can be extracted as $\text{Br}(ω\toππ)=(1.52\pm 0.06) \%$, which is consistent with the one of Parti…
We calculate the charged current cross sections obtained at the T2K near detector for $ν_μ$-induced events without pions in the final state. The method used is quantum-kinetic transport theory. Results are shown first, as a benchmark, for electron inclusive cross sections on $^{12}$C and $^{16}$O to be followed with a detailed comparison with the data measured by the T2K collaboration on C$_8$H$_8$ and H$_2$O targets. The contribution of 2p2h processes is found to be relevant mostly for backwards angles; their theoretical uncertainties are within the experimental uncertainties. Particular emph…
To describe low-energy (anti)neutrino fluxes in modern coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering experiments as well as high-energy fluxes in precision-frontier projects such as the Enhanced NeUtrino BEams from kaon Tagging (ENUBET) and the Neutrinos from STORed Muons (nuSTORM), we evaluate (anti)neutrino energy spectra from radiative muon ($μ^- \to e^- \barν_e ν_μ(γ),~μ^+ \to e^+ ν_e \barν_μ(γ)$), pion $π_{\ell 2}$ ($π^- \to μ^- \barν_μ(γ),~π^+ \to μ^+ ν_μ(γ)$), and kaon $K_{\ell 2}$ ($K^- \to μ^- \barν_μ(γ),~K^+ \to μ^+ ν_μ(γ)$) decays. We compare detailed $\mathrm{O} \left( α\right)$ dis…
This short paper is an addendum to a recent publication on charged current neutrino-induced pion production (Phys.\ Rev.\ C96 (2017) no.1, 015503). It presents comparisons of pion production cross sections measured at the T2K near detector for a CH target.
Simple dynamics, few available decay channels, and highly controlled radiative and loop corrections, make pion and muon decays a sensitive means of exploring details of the underlying symmetries. We review the current status of the rare decays: pi+ -> e+ nu, pi+ -> e+ nu gamma, pi+ -> pi0 e+ nu, and mu+ -> e+ nu nu-bar gamma. For the latter we report new preliminary values for the branching ratio B(E_gamma >10 MeV, theta_(e-gamma) > 30deg) = 4.365 (9)_stat (42)_syst x 10^{-3}, and the decay parameter eta-bar = 0.006 (17)_stat (18)_syst, both in excellent agreement with standard model predictio…
[Background] Long-Baseline experiments such as T2K, NOvA or the planned Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) require theoretical descriptions of the complete event in a neutrino-nucleus reaction. Since nuclear targets are used this requires a good understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions. [Purpose] One of the dominant reaction channels in neutrino-nucleus interactions is pion production. This paper aims for a coherent view on all charged current charged pion production data that are avaible from the experiments MiniBooNE, the near detector experiment at T2K and MINERvA. [Methods] …
T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment located in Japan and designed to measure neutrino flavor oscillation using an off-axis neutrino beam. Data collected recently with an anti-neutrino beam allows T2K to measure cross sections for anti-neutrinos at an energy around 600 MeV using the off-axis near detector. These measurements, along with the analogous for neutrinos, are vital inputs to neutrino oscillation analyses and their interpretation. In this work preliminary results on the simultaneous extraction of the muon neutrino and anti-neutrino charged-current …
A set of measurements of azimuthal asymmetries in the production of pairs of identified hadrons in deep-inelastic scattering of muons on transversely polarised $^6$LiD (deuteron) and NH$_3$ (proton) targets is presented. All available data collected in the years 2002-2004 and 2007/2010 with the COMPASS spectrometer using a muon beam of 160 GeV/$c$ at the CERN SPS were analysed. The asymmetries provide access to the transversity distribution functions via a fragmentation function that in principle may be independently obtained from $e^+e^-$ annihilation data. Results are presented, discussed an…
SciBooNE, located in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab, collected data from June 2007 to August 2008 to accurately measure muon neutrino and anti-neutrino cross sections on carbon below 1 GeV neutrino energy. SciBooNE is studying charged current interactions. Among them, neutral pion production interactions will be the focus of this poster. The experimental signature of neutrino-induced neutral pion production is constituted by two electromagnetic cascades initiated by the conversion of the neutral pion decay photons, with an additional muon in the final state for CC processes. In this pos…
The two-pion contribution from low energies to the muon magnetic moment anomaly, although small, has a large relative uncertainty since in this region the experimental data on the cross sections are neither sufficient nor precise enough. It is therefore of interest to see whether the precision can be improved by means of additional theoretical information on the pion electromagnetic form factor, which controls the leading order contribution. In the present paper we address this problem by exploiting analyticity and unitarity of the form factor in a parametrization-free approach that uses the p…
We present a first model-independent calculation of $ππ$ intermediate states in the hadronic-light-by-light (HLbL) contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon $(g-2)_μ$ that goes beyond the scalar QED pion loop. To this end we combine a recently developed dispersive description of the HLbL tensor with a partial-wave expansion and demonstrate that the known scalar-QED result is recovered after partial-wave resummation. Using dispersive fits to high-statistics data for the pion vector form factor, we provide an evaluation of the full pion box, $a_μ^{π\text{-box}}=-15.9(2)\times 10^…
Building on the rare pion and muon decay results of the PIBETA experiment, the PEN collaboration has undertaken a precise measurement of B_{πe2} = R^π_{e/μ}, the π^+ -> e^+ν(γ) decay branching ratio, at the Paul Scherrer Institute, to reduce the present 40\times experimental precision lag behind theory to ~ 6-7\times. Because of large helicity suppression, R^π_{e/μ} is uniquely sensitive to contributions from non-(V-A) physics, making this decay a particularly suitable subject of study. Even at current precision, the experimental value of B_{πe2} provides the most accurate test of lepton unive…
Violation of Lorentz invariance (VLI) has been suggested as an explanation of the superluminal velocities of muon neutrinos reported by OPERA. In this note we show that the amount of VLI required to explain this result poses severe difficulties with the kinematics of the pion decay, extending its lifetime and reducing the momentum carried away by the neutrinos. We show that the OPERA experiment limits $α= (v_ν- c)/c < 4 \times 10^{-6}$. We then take recourse to cosmic ray data on the spectrum of muons and neutrinos generated in the earth's atmosphere to provide a stronger bound on VLI: $(v-c)/…
Dispersive analysis of the $π^+ π^-$ production at the CMD3 experiment and the compatibility with muon pair production measurement by KLOE2 and the pion form factor by JLAB
Department of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Nuclear Physics Rez near Prague, CAS, Czech Republic(捷克布拉格附近雷兹核物理研究所理论物理系)
The $π^0$ pole constitutes the lowest-lying singularity of the hadronic light-by-light (HLbL) tensor, and thus provides the leading contribution in a dispersive approach to HLbL scattering in the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon $(g-2)_μ$. It is unambiguously defined in terms of the doubly-virtual pion transition form factor, which in principle can be accessed in its entirety by experiment. We demonstrate that, in the absence of a direct measurement, the full space-like doubly-virtual form factor can be reconstructed very accurately based on existing data for $e^+e^-\to 3π$, $e^+e^-\to e^…
The two-pion low-energy contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, $a_μ\equiv(g-2)_μ/2$, expres sed as an integral over the modulus squared of the pion electromagnetic form fac tor, brings a relatively large contribution to the theoretical error, since the low accuracy of experimental measurements in this region is amplified by the drastic increase of the integration kernel. We derive stringent constraints on the two-pion contribution by exploiting analyticity and unitarity of the pion electromagnetic form factor. To avoid the poor knowledge of the modulus of this function, we …
We revisit the isospin-breaking and electromagnetic corrections to the decay $τ^-\toπ^-π^0ν_τ$, which allow its use as input in the two-pion contribution to the (leading order) hadronic vacuum polarization part of the muon anomalous magnetic moment. We extend a previous resonance chiral Lagrangian analysis, which included those operators saturating the next-to-leading order chiral low energy constants, by including the contributions of the next subleading terms. As a result, we improve agreement between the two-pion tau decay and $e^+e^-$ data and reduce the discrepancy between experiment and …
Observed since the 1950's, the seasonal effect on underground muons is a well studied phenomenon. The interaction height of incident cosmic rays changes as the temperature of the atmosphere changes, which affects the production height of mesons (mostly pions and kaons). The decay of these mesons produces muons that can be detected underground. The production of muons is dominated by pion decay, and previous work did not include the effect of kaons. In this work, the methods of Barrett and MACRO are extended to include the effect of kaons. These efforts give rise to a new method to measure the …
I present an application of a convolutional neural network (CNN) to separate muons and pions in the Belle II electromagnetic calorimeter (ECL). The ECL is designed to measure the energy deposited by charged and neutral particles. It also provides important contributions to the particle identification (PID) system. Identification of low-momenta muons and pions in the ECL is crucial if they do not reach the outer muon detector. Track-seeded cluster energy images provide the maximal possible information. The shape of the energy depositions for muons and pions in the crystals around an extrapolate…
The Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) experiment is a 295-km long-baseline neutrino experiment aimed towards the measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters $θ_{13}$ and $θ_{23}$. Precise measurement of these parameters requires accurate knowledge of neutrino cross sections. We present a flux-averaged double differential measurement of the charged-current cross section on water with zero pions in the final state using the T2K off-axis near detector, ND280. A selection of $ν_μ$ charged- current events occurring in the Pi-Zero subdetector (PØD) of ND280 is performed with $5.8 \times 10^{20}$ protons on …
PIONEER is a next-generation experiment to measure the charged pion branching ratios to electrons vs muons $R_e/μ= \frac{Γ\left(π^+ \rightarrow e^+ ν(γ) \right)}{Γ\left(π^+ \rightarrow μ^+ ν(γ)\right)}$ and pion beta decay (Pib) $π^+\rightarrowπ^0eν$. The pion to muon decay ($π\rightarrowμ\rightarrow e$) has four orders of magnitude higher probability than the pion to electron decay ($π\rightarrow eν$). To achieve the necessary branching-ratio precision it is crucial to suppress the $π\rightarrowμ\rightarrow e$ energy spectrum that overlaps with the low energy tail of $π\rightarrow eν$. A high…
Two beamline Cherenkov detectors (Ckov-a,-b) support particle identification in the MICE beamline. Electrons and high-momentum muons and pions can be identified with good efficiency. We report on the Ckov-a,-b performance in detecting pions and muons with MICE Step I data and derive an upper limit on the pion contamination in the standard MICE muon beam.
We report on the first cross section measurement of charged-current single charged pion production by neutrinos and antineutrinos on argon. This analysis was performed using the ArgoNeuT detector exposed to the NuMI beam at Fermilab. The measurements are presented as functions of muon momentum, muon angle, pion angle, and angle between muon and pion. The flux-averaged cross sections are measured to be $2.7\pm0.5(stat)\pm0.5(syst) \times 10^{-37} \textrm{cm}^{2}/\textrm{Ar}$ for neutrinos at a mean energy of 9.6 GeV and $8.4\pm0.9(stat)^{+1.0}_{-0.8}(syst) \times 10^{-38} \textrm{cm}^{2}/\textr…
MICE is an experiment with a section of an ionization cooling channel and a muon beam. The muons will be produced by the decay of pions from a target dipping into the ISIS proton beam at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). The channel includes liquid-hydrogen absorbers providing transverse and longitudinal momentum loss and high-gradient radiofrequency (RF) cavities for longitudinal reacceleration, all packed into a solenoidal magnetic channel. MICE will reduce the beam transverse emittance by about 10% for muon momenta between 140 and 240 MeV/c. Time-of-flight (TOF) counters, a threshold Ch…
Neutrino physics is going through a very exciting phase. In last one and half years, crucial informations have been provided by both short and long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. At short-baseline, recent neutrino oscillation studies seem to point towards the existence of active-sterile mixing. On the other hand at long-basline, recent T2K and MINOS data are in favor of non-zero theta13 opening up the possibility of observing CP-violation in the lepton sector. A stopped pion source provides neutrino beams with energy of a few tens of MeV from pion and muon decay-at-rest. A rich phy…
The stability of triple GEM detector setups in an environment of high energetic showers is studied. To this end the spark probability in a shower environment is compared to the spark probability in a pion beam.
Measurement of the differential cross section for neutral pion production in charged-current muon neutrino interactions on argon with the MicroBooNE detector
The international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) will perform a systematic investigation of ionization cooling with muon beams of momentum between 140 and 240\,MeV/c at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory ISIS facility. The measurement of ionization cooling in MICE relies on the selection of a pure sample of muons that traverse the experiment. To make this selection, the MICE Muon Beam is designed to deliver a beam of muons with less than $\sim$1\% contamination. To make the final muon selection, MICE employs a particle-identification (PID) system upstream and downstream of the cooli…
We present a lattice calculation of the leading Hadronic Vacuum Polarization (HVP) contribution of the light u- and d-quarks to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, $a_μ^{\rm HVP}(ud)$, adopting the gauge configurations generated by the European Twisted Mass Collaboration with $N_f = 2+1+1$ dynamical quarks at three values of the lattice spacing with pion masses in the range 210 - 450 MeV. Thanks to several lattices at fixed values of the light-quark mass and scale but with different sizes we perform a careful investigation of finite-volume effects (FVEs). In order to remove FVEs we deve…
Neutrino beam with about 300 MeV in energy, high-flux and medium baseline is considered a rational choice for measuring CP violation before the more powerful Neutrino Factory will be built. Following this concept, a unique neutrino beam facility based on muon-decayed neutrinos is proposed. The facility adopts a continuous-wave proton linac of 1.5 GeV and 10 mA as the proton driver, which can deliver an extremely high beam power of 15 MW. Instead of pion-decayed neutrinos, unprecedentedly intense muon-decayed neutrinos are used for better background discrimination. The schematic design for the …
The NOvA experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment designed to measure the rates of electron neutrino appearance and muon neutrino disappearance. The NOvA near detector is located at Fermilab, 800 m from the primary target and provides an excellent platform to measure and study neutrino-nucleus interactions. We present the status of the measurement of the double differential cross section with respect to muon kinematics for interactions involving charged pions in the final state, $ν_μ + N \rightarrow μ+ π^{+/-} + X$. We have derived a convolutional neural network-based appr…
This study conducted an analysis of muons, protons, and charged pions emitted from $ν_μ$ charged-current interactions on iron using a nuclear emulsion detector. The emulsion detector with a 65$\,$kg iron target was exposed to a neutrino beam corresponding to 4.0$\times$10$^{19}$ protons on target with a mean neutrino energy of 1.49$\,$GeV. The measurements were performed at a momentum threshold of 200 (50)$\,$MeV/$c$ for protons (pions), which are the lowest momentum thresholds attempted up to now. The measured quantities are the multiplicities, emission angles, and momenta of the muons, proto…
A new muon beamline, muon science innovative channel (MuSIC), was set up at the Research Centre for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka University, in Osaka, Japan, using the 392 MeV proton beam impinging on a target. The production of an intense muon beam relies on the efficient capture of pions, which subsequently decay to muons, using a novel superconducting solenoid magnet system. After the pion-capture solenoid the first $36^\circ$ of the curved muon transport line was commissioned and the muon flux was measured. In order to detect muons, a target of either copper or magnesium was placed to sto…