Searches for rare and forbidden kaon decays at the NA62 experiment at CERN
Matthew Moulson
备注：
LaTeX, 9 pages, 2 figures. Presented at DPF 2013, the Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields, Santa Cruz, California, August 13--17, 2013
The decay $K^+ \to π^+ν\barν$ is highly suppressed in the Standard Model (SM), while its rate can be predicted with minimal theoretical uncertainty. The branching ratio (BR) for this decay is thus a sensitive probe of the flavor sector of the SM; its measurement, however, is a significant experimental challenge. The primary goal of the NA62 experiment is to measure ${\rm BR}(K^+ \to π^+ν\barν)$ with $\sim$10% precision. This will require the observation of $10^{13}$ $K^+$ decays in the experiment's fiducial volume, as well as the use of high-performance systems for precision tracking, particle identification, and photon vetoing. These aspects of the experiment will also allow NA62 to carry out a rich program of searches for lepton flavor and/or number violating $K^+$ decays. Part of the experimental apparatus was commissioned during a technical run in 2012; installation continues and data taking is expected to begin in late 2014. The physics prospects and the status of the NA62 experiment are reviewed.
The NA62 experiment at CERN SPS aims to measure the branching ratio of the ultra-rare kaon decay $K^+\toπ^+ν\barν$ with 10\% precision, collecting $\sim 100$ events, assuming the Standard Model~(SM) branching ratio of $8.4 \times 10^{-11}$, starting in 2016. The NA62 experiment uses a kaon decay-in-flight technique and is exposed to a 750~MHz high-energy unseparated charged hadron beam, in which kaons are a minor component (6\%). Kaon identification is therefore mandatory to reduce the interference of the dominant non-kaon component with the experimental measurements. The NA62 kaon identificat…
The availability of high intensity kaon beams at the CERN SPS North Area gives rise to unique possibilities for sensitive tests of the Standard Model in the quark flavor sector. Precise measurements of the branching ratios for the flavor-changing neutral current decays $K\toπν\barν$ can provide unique constraints on CKM unitarity and, potentially, evidence for new physics. Building on the success of the NA62 experiment, plans are taking shape at CERN for a comprehensive program that will include experimental phases to measure the branching ratio for $K^+\toπ^+ν\barν$ to ~5% and to $K_L\toπ^0ν\…
The Kaon physics program at CERN will be shortly presented, addressing the most recent results from the NA48/2 and NA62 experiments at the CERN SPS and future prospects.
Some Kaons and Hyperons rare decays branching ratios and form factors were measured by the NA48 experiment at CERN. The details of the measurements and their importance for the understanding of the CKM quark mixing matrix are discussed.
The NA62 experiment at CERN aims to make a precision measurement of the ultra-rare decay $K^{+} \rightarrow π^{+}ν\overlineν$, and relies on a differential Cherenkov detector (KTAG) to identify charged kaons at an average rate of 50 MHz in a 750 MHz unseparated hadron beam. The experimental sensitivity of NA62 to K-decay branching ratios (BR) of $10^{-11}$ requires a time resolution for the KTAG of better than 100 ps, an efficiency better than 95% and a contamination of the kaon sample that is smaller than $10^{-4}$. A prototype version of the detector was tested in 2012, during the first NA62…
An overview of the Rare Kaon Decay program at the AGS is presented, with particular emphasis on the three major experiments currently running and analyzing data. A brief review of earlier kaon decay experiments and of recent improvements in AGS performance is provided. This review concludes with a discussion of proposed and developing experiments planned to run in the year 2000 and beyond (AGS2000).
The NA48/2 experiment at the CERN SPS carried out data taking in 2003 and 2004. Analysis of the selected data samples of 7,146 $K^\pm\toπ^\pm e^+e^-$ decay candidates with 0.6% background, 1,164 $K^\pm\toπ^\pmγγ$ candidates with 3.3% background, and 120 $K^\pm\toπ^\pmγe^+e^-$ candidates with 6.1% background allowed precise measurements of branching fractions and other characteristics of these rare kaon decays.
The NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS aims to measure the branching ratio of the rare decay $K^+\toπ^+ν\barν$ with a relative precision of $\sim10%$. To achieve that goal, it is designed to be exposed to $1.2\times 10^{13}$ $K^+$ decays in its fiducial volume. The unprecedented $K^+$ flux will lead to record sensitivities to rare and forbidden decays of $K^+$ and $π^0$, including those that violate lepton flavour or lepton number conservation. The expected NA62 performances for lepton flavour conservation and lepton universality tests are discussed. Relevant on-going or recently completed measur…
Searches for lepton flavour and lepton number violation in kaon decays by the NA48/2 and NA62 experiments at CERN are presented. A precision measurement of the helicity-suppressed ratio RK of the K --> e nu and K --> mu nu decay rates has been performed using the full data set collected by the NA62 collaboration in 2007. The data sample amounted to 145,958 reconstructed K --> e nu candidates with 11.0% background contamination. The result is RK = (2.488 +- 0.010) X 10^{-5}, which is in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. An improved upper limit on the lepton number violating K+- -->…
Searches for violation of lepton flavour universality and lepton number conservation in kaon decays by the NA62 and NA48/2 experiments at CERN, status and future plans of the CERN kaon programme are presented. A precision measurement of the helicity-suppressed ratio $R_K$ of the $K^\pm\to e^\pmν$ and $K^\pm\toμ^\pmν$ decay rates has been performed using the full data set collected by the NA62 experiment in 2007--2008. The result is $R_K=(2.488\pm0.010)\times10^{-5}$, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. An improved upper limit on the rate of the lepton number violating $K^\pm\toπ^…
The NA48/2 and NA62-$R_K$ experiments at CERN collected large samples of charged kaon decays in 2003--2004 and 2007, respectively. These samples, collected with different trigger conditions, allow to search for both short and long-living heavy neutrinos produced in $K^{\pm}\toμ^{\pm}N_4$ decays. The results of these complementary searches are presented in this letter. In the absence of observed signal, the limits obtained on $\mathcal{B}(K^{\pm}\toπ^{\mp}μ^{\pm}μ^{\pm})$, $\mathcal{B}(K^{\pm}\to μ^{\pm} N_4)\mathcal{B}(N_4\to πμ)$, $\mathcal{B}(K^{+}\toμ^{+}N_4)$ and on the mixing matrix eleme…
NA62, an experiment at the CERN SPS to measure the branching ratio for the decay K+ -> pi+ nu nu-bar with ~10% precision, will observe ~10^13 K+ decays in its fiducial volume, and will thus also be able to carry out a rich program to search for forbidden K+ and pi0 decays, including in particular K+ decays that violate the conservation of lepton flavor and/or number. NA62's potential performance in searches for a number of forbidden K+ and pi0 decays is discussed, with initial sensitivity estimates.
Recent results from the NA48/2 and NA62 kaon decay-in-flight experiments at CERN are presented. A precision measurement of the helicity-suppressed ratio RK of the K+- to e+- nu and K+- to mu+- nu decay rates has been performed using the full dedicated data set collected by the NA62 experiment (RK phase); the result is in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. New measurements of the K+- to pi+- gamma gamma decay at the NA48/2 and NA62 experiments provide further tests of the Chiral Perturbation Theory. A planned measurement of the branching ratio of the ultra-rare K+ to pi+ nu anti-nu …
The ratio $R_K = Γ(K^{\pm}\to e^{\pm}ν(γ)) / Γ(K^{\pm}\toμ^{\pm}ν(γ))$ provides a powerful probe of the structure of weak interactions. It is calculated with very high precision within the Standard Model, but corrections due to the presence of New Physics could be in a few percent range. Development of NA48/NA62 method based on test data samples of 2003-04, and the status of analysis based on a dedicated 2007 run are discussed. In addition, a proposal to measure the ultra rare decay $K^+\toπ^+ν\barν$ at the CERN SPS is presented.
Searches for heavy neutrinos can be successfully performed by fixed target experiments at the CERN SPS. New results obtained by the NA62 and NA48/2 kaon experiments are summarized in this paper. The physics potential of future projects exploiting SPS protons with beam dump facilities to enlarge the sensitivity to heavy neutrinos above the kaon mass limit are also outlined.
NA62 is a fixed target kaon experiment at the CERN SPS which aims at measuring the branching ratio of the $K^+\toπ^+ν\barν$ decay with 10% precision. This ultra-rare kaon decay is theoretically extremely clean and an ideal place to look for physics beyond the Standard Model. The NA62 experiment has been running in 2016-2018 and has accumulated a large amount of kaon decays. The final result of the $K^+\toπ^+ν\barν$ analysis using the 2016 dataset is discussed as well as prospects for the analysis of the 2017 dataset. NA62 also has sensitivity to various other rare and forbidden kaon decays, as…
Precision measurements of the branching ratios (BRs) for rare kaon decays can provide unique constraints on CKM unitarity and may reveal the existence of new physics. The BRs for two of these decays, $K^+\toπ^+ν\barν$ and $K_L\toπ^0ν\barν$, are strongly suppressed in the Standard Model, while their rates can be calculated with very small theoretical uncertainties.These decays are potentially sensitive to high mass scales, and several models of new physics predict large deviations from the Standard Model. Much progress has been made recently in the measurement of the $K\toπν\barν$ BRs. Followin…
The electric alpha and magnetic beta pion Compton polarizabilities characterize the pion's deformation in the electromagnetic field of the gamma during gamma-pi Compton scattering. The pion polarizabilities are key observables, and provide stringent tests of our understanding of chiral symmetry, its spontaneous breakdown, the role of explicit symmetry breaking in QCD. The chi_PT effective Lagrangian, using data from radiative pion beta decay, predicts the pion electric and magnetic polarizabilities alpha = -beta = 2.7 +- 0.4, in standard polarizability units. The polarizabilities deduced by An…
The NA48/2 and NA62-$R_K$ experiments at the CERN SPS collected large samples of charged kaon decays in flight in 2003--07. The data analysis is still on-going (with over 20 publications produced so far); the recent results from these experiments are presented. A new upper limit on the rate of a lepton number violating decay $K^\pm\toπ^\mpμ^\pmμ^\pm$ is reported: $\mathcal{B} < 8.6\times 10^{-11}$ at 90\% CL. Searches for heavy sterile neutrino $N_4$ and neutral scalar resonances ($χ$) in $K^\pm\toπμμ$ decays are reported. Upper limits on the products $\mathcal{B}(K^\pm\toμ^\pm N_4)\mathcal{B}…
Recent precise measurements of CP violation parameters in kaon decays at the NA48 experiment: indirect CPV parameter $|η_{+-}|$, and charge asymmetries in $K^\pm\to3π$ decays, are presented.
This paper reviews the current status of experimental measurements of radiative kaon decays. Several experiments at BNL, CERN and FNAL have recently or will soon complete data collection; as a result, several new results are available.
The main physics goal of the NA62 experiment at CERN is to precisely measure the branching ratio of the kaon rare decay $K^+\rightarrow π^+ ν\barν$. This decay is strongly suppressed in the Standard Model and its branching ratio is theoretically calculated with high accuracy. The NA62 experiment is designed to measure this decay rate with an uncertainty better than 10\%. The measurement can be a good probe of new physics phenomena, which can alter the SM decay rate. The NA62 experiment has been successfully launched in October 2014. In this document, after an introduction to the theoretical fr…
Recent results and future prospects of rare kaon-decay experiments at KEK, BNL, CERN and FNAL are reviewed. Topics include lepton flavor violation, T-violating transverse muon polarization in K+{mu3}, exotic decays, K0 -> pi0 ell+ ell-, and K -> pi nu nubar.
A timely and long-term programme of kaon decay measurements at a new level of precision is presented, leveraging the capabilities of the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The proposed programme is firmly anchored on the experience built up studying kaon decays at the SPS over the past four decades, and includes rare processes, CP violation, dark sectors, symmetry tests and other tests of the Standard Model. The experimental programme is based on a staged approach involving experiments with charged and neutral kaon beams, as well as operation in beam-dump mode. The various phases will rely o…
The rare decay $K^\pm\toπ^\pmγγ$ has been recently measured from data samples collected by the NA48/2 and NA62 experiments at CERN. These measurements are presented, including model-independent spectrum measurements and fits to the Chiral Perturbation Theory description.
Universität Bonn（波恩大学）；Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik（亥姆霍兹射线与核物理研究所）；University of Torino（都灵大学）；Torino Section of INFN（意大利国家核物理研究院都灵分部）；CERN（欧洲核子研究中心）
Direct CP violation is studied in two pion decays of the neutral kaon. Using data collected in the first beam period in 1997, the result for the parameter Re(epsilon'/epsilon) is (18.5+/-4.5(stat)+/-5.8(syst))x10^(-4).
The NA62 experiment at CERN collected a large sample of charged kaon decays with a highly efficient trigger for decays into electrons in 2007. The kaon beam represents a source of tagged neutral pion decays in vacuum. A measurement of the electromagnetic transition form factor slope of the neutral pion in the time-like region from $1.05\times10^6$ fully reconstructed $π^0$ Dalitz decay is presented. The limits on dark photon production in $π^0$ decays from the earlier kaon experiment at CERN, NA48/2, are also reported.
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 $K^{+} \rightarrow π^{+} ν\barν$ 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…
Recent NA48 results from detailed studies of $K_{L,S}\to π^+ π^- e^+ e^-$ and $K_S\toπ^0 γγ$ decay modes are presented. The results are based on the data collected with the NA48 detector at the CERN SPS during the 1998-199 9 and 2000 data taking periods, respectively. Prospects for future results on charged kaon decays are briefly described.
Recent Kaon decay studies seeking lepton-flavor violating (LFV) new-physics effects are briefly discussed. The main focus is set on precise measurements of rare or not-so-rare decays aiming at finding evidence of deviations from the SM prediction rather than on the results from direct searches of LFV transitions forbidden or ultra-rare in the SM.
Searches for lepton flavour and lepton number violation in kaon decays by the NA48/2 and NA62 experiments at CERN are presented. A new measurement of the helicity suppressed ratio of charged kaon leptonic decay rates $RK=BR(Ke2)/BR(Kmu2) to sub-percent relative precision is discussed. An improved upper limit on the lepton number violating K+- --> pi-+mu+-mu+- decay rate is also presented.
Searches for lepton flavour violation and lepton number violation in kaon decays by the NA62 and NA48/2 experiments at CERN are presented. A new measurement of the ratio of charged kaon leptonic decay rates $R_K=Γ(K_{e2})/Γ(K_{\mu2})$ to sub-percent relative precision is discussed. An improved upper limit on the lepton number violating $K^\pm\rightarrowπ^\mpμ^\pmμ^\pm$ decay rate is also reported. The future 10% precision measurement of the branching ratio of the ultra-rare kaon decay $K^+\rightarrowπ^+ν\barν$ with the NA62 experiment is finally reviewed.
New data from the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS concerning hadron+proton and hadron+nucleus interactions are discussed and compared to nucleus+nucleus collisions. Detailed information on baryonic momentum distributions and nuclear enhancement factors for kaons and cascade baryons are extracted.
The NA48 experiment at CERN has performed a measurement of direct CP violation in the neutral kaon system, based on data collected in 1997 and 1998. The preliminary result for the parameter $\Re(ε^{\prime}/ε)$ is $(14.0 \pm 4.3) \times 10^{-4}$.
The Fermilab HyperCP collaboration is making precision studies of charged hyperon and kaon decays, as well as searches for rare and forbidden hyperon and kaon decays. We report here on measurements of the branching ratios of the flavor-changing neutral-current decays: K+/- -> pi+/- mu+ mu-, and compare our results to theoretical predictions. This is the first observation of the K- -> pi- mu+ mu- decay.
A precise measurement of the hadron production from interactions of 30 GeV protons on carbon target is performed by NA61 (SHINE) experiment at the CERN SPS. The inclusive spectra of pions and kaons on the carbon target obtained from NA61 measurements constrain the neutrino flux in the T2K long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment at J-PARC, Japan. The article presents description of the NA61 apparatus together with the preliminary results from the pilot 2007 run.
The NA48 experiment at CERN has performed a new measurement of direct CP violation, based on data taken in 1997 by simultaneously collecting K_L and K_S decays into pi0pi0 and pi+pi-. The result for the CP violating parameter Re(epsilon'/epsilon) is (18.5 +/- 4.5(stat)} +/- 5.8 (syst))x10^{-4}.
A precision measurement of the ratio RK of the rates of kaon leptonic decays K+- --> e nu and K+- --> mu nu with the full data sample collected by the NA62 experiment at CERN in 2007-2008 is reported. The result, obtained by analysing ~150000 reconstructed K+- --> e nu candidates with 11% background contamination, is RK = (2.488+-0.010)*10^{-5}, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation.
Recent results and future prospects in the rare kaon-decay experiments at KEK, BNL, CERN and FNAL are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the quark flavor dynamics in the flavor-changing neutral current processes. Experimental and data-analysis techniques developed in the rare decay experiments are discussed.
In the recent year many new results from kaon decays have been reported from both the NA48 experiment at CERN and the KTeV experiment at Fermilab. Both experiments have new and improved measurements of the parameter Re(epsilon'/epsilon) of direct CP violation in the neutral kaon system. Also several new results on rare and very rare K_L decays were reported. In addition, the NA48 collaboration has performed special high-intensity K_S run periods, with the first results now being available.
The final result is presented of the NA48 Experiment performed at CERN SPS neutral kaon beams on the direct CP violation parameter Re(epsilon'/epsilon), as maesured from the decay rates of neutral kaons into two pions. The data collected in years 1997-2001 yield the evidence for direct CP violation with Re(epsilon'/epsilon)=(14.7+-2.2)10^-4. Description of expermental method and systematics, comparison with world data and some discussion of implications for theory are given.
Using a high statistics sample of photo-produced charm particles from the FOCUS experiment at Fermilab, we report results of a search for eight rare and Standard-Model-forbidden decays: D+, Ds+ > h+/- muon-/+ muon+ (with h=pion or Kaon). Improvement over previous results by a factor of 1.7--14 is realized. Our branching ratio upper limit D+ > pion+ muon- muon+ of 8.8E-6 at the 90% C.L. is below the current MSSM R-Parity violating constraint.
The aim of the NA48 experiment at the CERN SPS is to measure direct CP violation in neutral kaon decays thus determining the parameter $ε'/ε$ with an accuracy of $2\times 10^{-4}$. The advantages of NA48 with respect to previous experiments are high statistics and reduced systematic effects. The principle of the experiment and the performance of the detector components are presented.
In this document we present the latest result on rare/forbidden decays for D mesons at the BESIII experiment. Based on 2.92/fb data taken at the center-of-mass energy 3.773 GeV with the BESIII detector, the flavor-changing neutral current process of neutral D decays into two gammas is searched using a double tag technique, while the decays of charged D decays into a charged kaon/pion plus two electrons/positrons are studied based on a single tag method. The resulting upper limits are still above the Standard Model predictions.
The NA62 experiment at CERN aims to use rare kaon decays to search for new phenomena beyond the Standard Model. During the current short term phase (data taking completed in years 2007-8), the ratio $R_K = Γ(K^+ \rightarrow e ν_e (γ)) / Γ(K^+ \rightarrow μν_μ (γ))$ of leptonic decay rates is studied, which tests the structure of weak interactions and lepton flavour universality. In this paper, the $R_K$ analysis is summarized, and the preliminary result is discussed, based on 59963 $K^+ \rightarrow e ν_e $ candidates collected in 2007.
Measuring the rate at which the long-lived, neutral kaon decays into a neutral pion, neutrino, and anti-neutrino allows physicists an opportunity to test precise predictions made by the Standard Model. Differences between theoretical predictions and experimental measurements may point to new physics. Not only does the Standard Model predict a very low probability at approximately 3 $K_L \to π^0 ν\barν$ decays in 100 billion $K_L$ decays, but many of the common decays leave false signals in the detector that look the same as the true signal. Charged decays have been studied to determine the req…
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has recently approved a world-unique QCD facility in which an updated version of the external M2 beam line of the CERN SPS in conjunction with a universal spectrometer of the COMPASS experiment is used. One of its main goals is to use highly intense and energetic kaon beams to map out the complete spectrum of excited kaons with an unprecedented precision; having a broad impact not only on low-energy QCD phenomenology, but also on many high-energy particle processes where excited kaons appear, such as the study of CP violation in heavy-meson…
The current status of the proposed SHiP experiment at the CERN Beam Dump Facility is presented. SHiP is a general-purpose fixed-target experiment. The 400 GeV/$c$ proton beam extracted from the SPS will be dumped on a heavy target to integrate $2 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in five years. The detector, based on a long vacuum tank followed by a spectrometer and particle identification detectors, will allow to probe a variety of models with light long-lived exotic particles and masses below ${\cal O}(10)$ GeV/$c^2$. The main focus will be the physics of the so-called hidden portals, i.e. t…
Recent results from the NA48/1 and NA48/2 experiments at the CERN SPS are presented. NA48/2 carried out data taking in 2003 and 2004 collecting charged kaon decays: branching ratios and form factors have been measured for the rare K+- to pi+-e+e-, K+- to pi+-gammagamma and K+- to pi+-e+e-gamma decays. The NA48/1 experiment has taken data in 2002 using only the Ks beam at an increased intensity measuring neutral hyperon radiative decays. Using this data, which exceeds present statistics by about one order of magnitude, a new precise measurement of the Csi_0 decay asymmetries has been obtained.
New results from NA49 on the production of strangeness in elementary and nuclear reactions are presented. New measurements of charged kaon and pion production have been obtained from 40 AGeV Pb+Pb collisions. The evolution of strange meson yields in nucleus-nucleus interactions is studied as a function of collision energy and system size. Cascade baryon yields are presented for a wide range of hadronic interactions including first measurements in p+p and centrality controlled p+Pb collisions.
In the last few years it has become possible to study low energy pi pi scattering in kaon decays to three pions, thanks to the high statistics measurement of K+- -> pi+- pi0 pi0 decays performed by the NA48/2 experiment at the CERN SPS. At the pi+ pi- threshold, the pi0 pi0 mass spectrum exhibits a Wigner-cusp, from which the S-wave pi pi scattering lengths are extracted with high precision. This measurement is complementary to the extraction of the scattering lengths from K_e4 decays, which is also performed by the NA48/2 experiment.
The direct CP violation parameter Re(epsilon'/epsilon) has been measured from the decay rates of neutral kaons into two pions using the NA48 detector at the CERN SPS. The 2001 running period was devoted to collecting additional data under varied conditions compared to earlier years (1997-99). The new data yield the result: Re(epsilon'/epsilon) = (13.7 +/- 3.1) times 10^{-4}. Combining this result with that published from the 1997, 98 and 99 data, an overall value of Re(epsilon'/epsilon) = (14.7 +/- 2.2) times 10^{-4} is obtained from the NA48 experiment.
High statistics sample of kaon decays collected by NA48-CERN experiment allowed two independent measurements of the pion scattering length. Methods and Results are discussed
Recent measurements of kaon decays provide new information about CKM unitarity, lepton universality, and discrete symmetries. KLOE-2, the proposed extension of the kaon physics program at Frascati, will extend the world data set on kaon decays and conduct interference measurements with neutral kaons. Meanwhile, the decays K \to πν\barν can be directly related to the CKM matrix elements with minimal theoretical uncertainty, and are the focus of a series of experiments. Several events of K+ \to π+ν\barν have been observed to date; the goal of the NA62 experiment at CERN is to perform an O(100)-e…
