The NA61/SHINE fixed-target experiment at the CERN SPS studies the onset of deconfinement and searches for the critical point of strongly interacting matter by measuring hadron production as a function of the collision energy and the colliding system size.
This contribution summarises recent results on hadron spectra and fluctuations, in particular new results on charged kaon production in $^7$Be+$^9$Be collisions. Also an overview of the proposed future program of NA61/SHINE is presented.
With the Large Hadron Collider entering its third year of granting us insight into the highest collision energies to date, one should nevertheless keep in mind the unexplored physics potential of lower energies. A prime example here is the NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Using its large-acceptance hadronic spectrometer, SHINE aims to accomplish a number of physics goals: measuring spectra of identified hadrons in hadron-nucleus collisions to provide reference for accelerator neutrino experiments and cosmic-ray observatories, investigating particle properties in the …
The research programme of the NA61 collaboration covers a wide range of hadronic physics in the CERN SPS energy range, encompassesing measurements of hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus as well as nucleus-nucleus collisions. The latter are analysed to better understand the properties of hot and dense nuclear matter. In this paper recent results of particle production properties as well event by event fluctuations in proton-proton, Be+Be and Ar+Sc interactions at beam energies of 19A/20A, 30A, 40A, 75A/80A and 158A GeV/c are presented.
The total systematic uncertainty of the neutrino flux in accelerator-based neutrino experiments is dominated by the Monte Carlo modeling of hadronic interactions. Direct hadron production measurements for T2K and Fermilab neutrino experiments, MINERvA, NOvA and DUNE, are being performed at the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron. Crucial for improving neutrino flux predictions, hadron yields, inelastic and production cross sections are obtained at NA61/SHINE where interactions of various hadron beams with thin and thick (replica) targets are reproduced. Recently obtained…
NA61/SHINE is a multipurpose fixed-target facility at the CERN SPS. The main goals of the NA61/SHINE strong-interactions programme are to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter as well as to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. In order to reach these goals, a study of hadron production properties is performed in nucleus-nucleus, proton-proton and proton-nucleus interactions as a function of collision energy and size of the colliding nuclei. In this contribution, the NA61/SHINE results from a strong interaction measurement programme are presented. In particul…
NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment designed to study hadron-proton, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions at the CERN Super-Proton-Synchrotron. In this proceeding we present results on spectra of identified hadrons produced in pion-carbon production interactions, which are of fundamental importance to improve the extensive air shower modeling, and hence the interpretation of ultra-high-energy-cosmic-rays measurements. In particular, our measurements of (anti)baryons and $ρ^0$ production in pion-carbon interactions can contribute to improve the predictions of muon production by a…
A precise prediction of the neutrino flux is a key ingredient for achieving the physics goals of long-baseline neutrino experiments. In modern accelerator-based neutrino experiments, neutrino beams are created from the decays of secondary hadrons produced in hadron-nucleus interactions. Hadron production is the leading systematic uncertainty source on the neutrino flux prediction; therefore, its precise measurement is essential. The NA61/SHINE is a fixed-target experiment at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron, which studies hadron production in hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions for …
As neutrino long baseline experiments enter a new domain of precision, important systematic errors due to poor knowledge of production cross-sections for pions and kaons require more dedicated measurements for precise neutrino flux predictions. The cosmic ray experiments require dedicated hadron production measurements to tune simulation models used to describe air shower profiles. Among other goals, the NA61-SHINE (SPS Heavy Ion and Neutrino Experiment) experiment at the CERN SPS aims at precision measurements (5% and below) for both neutrino and cosmic ray experiments: those will improve the…
The NA61/SHINE experiment aims to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and study properties of the onset of deconfinement. These goals are to be achieved by performing a two dimensional phase diagram ($T$-$μ_{B}$) scan - measurements of hadron production properties in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions as a function of collision energy and system size. This contribution summarizes current the status and future plans as well as presents the first physics results of the NA61/SHINE ion program.
NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment at the CERN Super-Proton- Synchrotron. The main goals of the experiment are to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and study the properties of the onset of deconfnement. In order to reach these goals the collaboration studies hadron production properties in nucleus-nucleus, proton-proton and proton-nucleus interactions. In this talk, recent results on particle production in p+p interactions, as well as Be+Be and Ar+Sc collisions in the SPS energy range are reviewed. The results are compared with available world data. The future of …
The problem of pinning down the critical point of strongly interacting matter still puzzles the community. One of the answers suspected to emerge in the near future will surely come from NA61/SHINE - a fixed-target experiment aiming to discover the critical point as well as to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. This goal will be pursued by obtaining precise data on hadron production in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions in a wide range of system size and collision energy. This contribution presents new results on inclusive spectra of identified hadr…
The NA61/SHINE experiment is a fixed-target, broad acceptance facility at the CERN SPS. This contribution summarizes the most recent results from the strong interactions NA61/SHINE programme and presents news on the detector upgrade in preparation for the future data taking. The strong interactions programme consists in a two-dimensional scan in beam momentum (from 13A to 150A/158A GeV/c, \sqrt{s_{NN}} from 5.1 to 17.3 GeV) and system size (p + p, Be + Be, Ar + Sc, Xe + La reactions). The experiment searches for the second-order critical end-point in the temperature versus baryo-chemical poten…
The measurement of $K^*(892)^0$ resonance production via its $K^+ π^-$ decay mode in inelastic p+p collisions at beam momenta 40--158 GeV/c ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=8.8--17.3 GeV) is presented. The data were recorded by the NA61/SHINE hadron spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The analysis of $K^*(892)^0$ was done with the template method. The results include the double differential spectra $d^2 n/(dydp_T)$, $d^2 n/(m_T dm_T dy)$ as well as dn/dy spectra.
NA61/SHINE is a multi-purpose experiment to study hadron-proton, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The experiment performs unique measurements for the physics of strong interactions as well as important reference measurements for neutrino and cosmic-ray physics. The primary goals of the experiment are the study of the onset of deconfinement and the search for the critical point of the strongly interacting matter, to uncover the mechanism of thermalisation and to test the validity of statistical models. For this purpose, a two-dimensional …
The exploration of the QCD phase diagram is the most important task of present heavy ion experiments. In particular, we want to study the phase transition from hadronic to partonic matter and look for the critical point (CP) of strongly interacting matter. Fluctuations and correlations in kinematic characteristics and particle yields may help to locate the CP (in analogy to enlarged fluctuations due to critical opalescence close to a CP in a liquid/gas transition). The strong interactions program of the NA61/SHINE experiment may allow to discover or rule out the existence of the CP in the Supe…
The main physics goals of the NA61/SHINE programme on strong interactions are the study of the properties of the onset of deconfinement and the search for signatures of the critical point of strongly interacting matter. These goals are pursued by performing an energy (beam momentum 13A -158A GeV/c) and system size (p+p, p+Pb, Be+Be, Ar+Sc, Xe+La) scan. This publication reviews results and plans of NA61/SHINE. In particular, recent inclusive spectra and new results on fluctuations and correlations of identified hadrons in inelastic p+p and centrality selected Be+Be interactions at the SPS energ…
NA61/SHINE has recently completed data acquisition for its original programme on strong interactions. The Collaboration has gathered rich data on collisions of ions in a two-dimensional scan: varying the beam energy and the sizes of colliding nuclei. The most recent analysis of hadron production in $^{40}$Ar+$^{45}$Sc and $^{7}$Be+$^{9}$Be interactions deliver some puzzling results which none of the theoretical models can reproduce.
The modular hadron calorimeter with micro-pixel avalanche photodiodes readout for the NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS is presented. The calorimeter consists of 44 independent modules with lead-scintillator sandwich structure. The light from the scintillator tiles is captured by and transported with WLS-fibers embedded in scintillator grooves. The construction provides a longitudinal segmentation of the module in 10 sections with independent MAPD readout. MAPDs with pixel density of $~10^{4}$/mm$^2$ ensure good linearity of calorimeter response in a wide dynamical range. The performance o…
Multiplicity fluctuations were investigated in Ar+Sc collisions at 13A, 19A, 30A, 40A, 75A, 150A GeV/c using the NA61/SHINE detector at the SPS. Centrality selection is based on the nucleon-spectator energy in the forward hemisphere as measured by the Projectile spectator detector. Preliminary results on the scaled variance ω and the strongly intensive measure Ω were obtained for the multiplicity distribution of all, negatively and positively charged hadrons. Results are discussed and compared with p+p results and Pb+Pb data of NA49 and EPOS 1.99 simulations.
NA61/SHINE is a large acceptance fixed target experiment at the CERN SPS which studies final hadronic states in interactions between various particles and nuclei. The main topic of this contribution are preliminary results for mean negatively charged pion multiplicities $\langle π^{-} \rangle$ from central Ar+Sc and Be+Be collisions. The data were taken recently by the NA61/SHINE collaboration for a wide range of beam momenta. Measured rapidity distributions $\frac{dn}{dy}$ were extrapolated to unmeasured regions to obtain total multiplicities $\langle π^{-} \rangle$. A new scheme to calculate…
NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment designed to study hadron-proton, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions at the CERN Super-Proton-Synchrotron. In this paper we summarize the results from pion-carbon collisions recorded at beam momenta of 158 and 350 GeV/c. Hadron production measurements in this type of interactions is of fundamental importance for the understanding of the muon production in extensive air showers. In particular, production of (anti)baryons and $ρ^0$ are mechanisms responsible for increasing the number of muons which reaches the ground. The underestimation of the…
This paper briefly presents the NA61/SHINE facility at the CERN SPS and its measurements motivated by physics of strong interactions, neutrinos and cosmic rays.
One of the main goals of NA61/SHINE is the investigation of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. NA61/SHINE observes collisions of various nuclei at different energies, allowing to study the same phenomena and observables in vastly different conditions. One of the observables related to the quark-hadron transition is the Bose-Einstein momentum correlation function of identical pions, related to the space-time structure of pion emission. In this paper we report on such measurements in Be+Be collisions at an SPS beam momentum of 150A GeV/c. Our correlation functions can be statistic…
NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment at the CERN Super-Proton-Synchrotron. The main goals of the experiment are to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. In order to reach these goals, a study of hadron production properties is performed in nucleus-nucleus, proton-proton and proton-nucleus interactions as a function of collision energy and size of the colliding nuclei. In this talk, recent results on particle production in p+p interactions, as well as Be+Be and Ar+Sc collisions in the SPS energy range are reviewed. …
NA61/SHINE is a fixed-target experiment to study hadron production in hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN SPS. Due to the very good acceptance and particle identification in forward direction, NA61/SHINE is well suited for measuring particle production to improve the reliability of air shower simulations. Data with proton and pion beams have been taken in 2007 and 2009. First analysis results for the pion yield in proton-carbon interactions at 31 GeV will be shown and compared to predictions from models used in air shower simulations.
NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The main goals of the experiment are to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. In order to reach these goals, a study of hadron production properties is performed in nucleus-nucleus, proton-proton and proton-nucleus interactions as a function of collision energy and size of the colliding nuclei. In this talk, the new results on identified charged kaon production in the intermediate size system (Ar+Sc and Be+Be) collisions at SPS beam momen…
Accurate modelling of the T2K neutrino flux is crucial for a better understanding of neutrino interactions at the near and far detectors. Most of T2K neutrinos are created through in-flight decays of unstable hadrons, produced by interactions of 31 GeV/c protons in a long graphite target (90 cm). External hadron production data is used for correcting the flux model. The analysis presented here uses a new NA61 dataset, collected in 2009 using the full length replica of the T2K target. The preliminary results suggest a reduction of the hadronic interaction component of the neutrino flux uncertai…
The HARP and NA61/SHINE hadroproduction experiments as well as their implications for neutrino physics are discussed. HARP measurements have already been used for predictions of neutrino beams in K2K and Mini-BooNE/SciBooNE experiments and are also being used to improve the atmospheric neutrino flux predictions and to help in the optimization of neutrino factory and super-beam designs. First measurements released recently by the NA61/SHINE experiment are of significant importance for a precise prediction of the J-PARC neutrino beam used for the T2K experiment. Both HARP and NA61/SHINE experime…
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.
Precise prediction of the neutrino flux is a key ingredient to achieving the physics goals of accelerator-based neutrino experiments. In modern accelerator-based neutrino experiments, neutrino beams are created by colliding protons with a nuclear target. Secondary hadrons are produced in these collisions, and their decays contribute to the neutrino flux. The hadron production is the leading systematic uncertainty source on the neutrino flux prediction; therefore its precise measurement is desirable. In these proceedings, review of recent hadron production measurements and the latest results fr…
The NA61/SHINE experiment aims to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and study properties of the onset of deconfinement. These goals are to be achieved by performing a twodimensional phase diagram (T - μB) scan measurements of hadron production as a function of collision energy and system size. With its large acceptance and good particle identification NA61/SHINE also performs detailed and precise particle production measurements for the T2K, Pierre Auger Observatory and KASCADEGrande experiments. This contribution summarizes current status and future plans as well as p…
A precise prediction of the neutrino flux is a critical input for achieving the physics goals of accelerator-based neutrino experiments. In modern experiments, neutrino beams are created from the decays of secondary hadrons produced in hadron-nucleus interactions. Hadron production is the leading systematic uncertainty source on the neutrino flux prediction; therefore, its precise measurement is essential. In this proceedings, recent results and ongoing analyses of hadron production measurements by the NA61/SHINE experiment, as well as prospect for achievable precision on the flux predictions …
In this article the NA61/SHINE detector will be presented which is a large acceptance hadron spectrometer at the CERN SPS. It allows for a precise study of particle production from interactions of a 30 GeV proton beam in a carbon target in order to predict the neutrino flux of the T2K experiment at J-PARC, Japan. Requirements for the T2K experiment will be discussed together with the ongoing NA61 measurements. In particular preliminary NA61 results on pion production and cross section measurements from the 2007 pilot run will be shown.
The NA61/SHINE collaboration performed measurements of pC interactions at 31 GeV/c beam momentum with a full size replica of the T2K target (1.9 interaction length) during a pilot run in 2007. Larger statistics runs were also conducted in 2009 and 2010. The NA61/SHINE setup consists in a large acceptance spectrometer located on the H2 beamline of the SPS at CERN. For the first time, the kinematical phase space of interest for an accelerator based neutrino experiment (i.e. kinematical phase space of pions/kaons exiting the target and producing neutrinos in the direction of the near and far dete…
NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment at the CERN Super-Proton- Synchrotron. The main goals of the experiment are to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. In order to reach these goals, a study of hadron production properties is performed in nucleus-nucleus, proton-proton and proton-nucleus interactions as a function of collision energy and size of the colliding nuclei. In this paper, I will review recent results on strangeness production in p+p, Be+Be and Ar+Sc collisions in the SPS energy range. Kinematic spect…
One of physics goals of the NA61/SHINE experiment is a measurement of hadron production cross sections from proton-Carbon interactions at 31GeV/c for the T2K experiment at J-PARC. A precise knowledge of differential cross sections for pion and kaon production is of importance for improving the accuracy of neutrino flux simulations. The NA61 detector has a large angular acceptance, full coverage of the T2K phase space region, and good particle identification. In this work the analyses of negatively charged pion production are presented. Two different methods of negative pion selection and corre…
The fixed-target NA61/SHINE experiment (SPS CERN) looks for the critical point of strongly interacting matter and the properties of the onset of deconfinement. It is a two dimensional scan of measurements of particle spectra and fluctuations in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions as a function of collision energy and system size, corresponding to a two dimensional phase diagram (temperature T - baryonic chemical potential $μ_B$). New NA61/SHINE results are presented here, such as transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations in Ar+Sc collisions compared to NA61/S…
The kaon to pion ratio $K^+/π^+$ and the scaled variance $ω^-$ for fluctuations of negatively charged particles are studied within the statistical hadron resonance gas (HRG) model and the Ultra relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) transport model. The calculations are done for p+p, Be+Be, Ar+Sc, and Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron energy range to reveal the system size dependence of hadron production. For the HRG calculations the canonical ensemble is imposed for all conserved charges. In the UrQMD simulations the centrality selection in nucleus-nucleus collisi…
The NA61/SHINE experiment aims to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. These goals are to be achieved by performing a two dimensional phase diagram (T-μ_B) scan by measurements of hadron production properties in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions as a function of collision energy and system size. Close to the critical point an increase of fluctuations is predicted. In this contribution preliminary results on transverse momentum fluctuations and two-particle pseudorapidity/azimuthal angle c…
NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The main goals of the experiment are to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. In order to reach these goals, a study of hadron production properties is performed in nucleus-nucleus, proton-proton and proton-nucleus interactions as a function of collision energy and size of the colliding nuclei. In this talk, the newest preliminary results on kaon spectra produced in Ar+Sc collisions at three beam momenta (30A, 40A and 75A) will be shown. …
The NA61/SHINE experiment aims to discover the critical point of strongly interacting matter and study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. These goals are to be achieved by performing a two dimensional phase diagram $(T-μ_B)$ scan by measurements of hadron production properties in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions as a function of collision energy and system size. In this contribution, the results on two-particle correlations in pseudorapidity and azimuthal angle will be presented for the first time for Be+Be interactions at beam momenta: 20, 30, 40, 75 a…
Measurements of $K^{*}(892)^0$ resonance production via its $K^{+}π^{-}$ decay mode in inelastic $p+p$ collisions at beam momenta 40 and 80 GeV/$c$ ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}=8.8$ and 12.3 GeV) are presented. The data were recorded by the NA61/SHINE hadron spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The \textit{template} method was used to extract the $K^{*}(892)^0$ signal. Transverse momentum and rapidity spectra were obtained. The mean multiplicities of $K^{*}(892)^0$ mesons were found to be $(35.1 \pm 1.3 \mathrm{(stat)} \pm 3.6 \mathrm{(sys)) \cdot 10^{-3}}$ at 40 GeV/$c$ and $(58.3 \pm 1.9 \m…
This paper presents the Forward Time Projection Chamber (FTPC) system of the NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS accelerator. This TPC system applies a novel tandem-TPC design to reduce the background originating from particle tracks not synchronous with the event trigger. The FTPC system is composed of three chambers with alternating drift field directions. The chambers were installed directly along the beamline region of the NA61/SHINE detector in a medium- to high-intensity (10-100 kHz) hadron or ion beam. The tandem TPC system has proved to be capable of rejecting out-of-time background …
The hadroproduction experiments HARP, MIPP and NA61 (SHINE) as well as their implications for neutrino physics are discussed. HARP measurements have already been used for precise predictions of neutrino beams in K2K and MiniBooNE/SciBooNE experiments and are also being used to improve the atmospheric neutrino flux predictions and to help in the optimization of neutrino factory and super-beam designs. The MIPP experiment has nearly finalized measurements of hadron production from the NuMI target used in the MINOS experiment. First measurements released recently by the NA61 (SHINE) experiment ar…
Recent preliminary results on multiplicity fluctuations in p+p, Be+Be and Ar+Sc collisions from the NA61/SHINE collaboration are presented. The scaled variance of charged hadron multiplicity changes little when going from p+p to Be+Be collisions and drops dramatically from Be+Be to Ar+Sc interactions. The centrality selection procedure and the influence of volume fluctuations are discussed. Comparisons with the EPOS event generator are shown.
