Searching for a dark photon with DarkLight Corliss, R.
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2017, Letnik:
865
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Despite compelling astrophysical evidence for the existence of dark matter in the universe, we have yet to positively identify it in any terrestrial experiment. If such matter is indeed particle in ...nature, it may have a new interaction as well, carried by a dark counterpart to the photon. The DarkLight experiment proposes to search for such a beyond-the-standard-model dark photon through complete reconstruction of the final states of electron–proton collisions. In order to accomplish this, the experiment requires a moderate-density target and a very high intensity, low energy electron beam. I describe DarkLight's approach and focus on the implications this has for the design of the experiment, which centers on the use of an internal gas target in Jefferson Lab's Low Energy Recirculating Facility. I also discuss upcoming beam tests, where we will place our target and solenoidal magnet in the beam for the first time.
•DarkLight will search for 10–100MeV dark photons.•Sensitivity is projected to reach the 8Be anomaly region.•First beam is in summer 2016, with proof-of-principle measurements coming later.
Møller scattering is one of the most fundamental processes in QED, and a variety of modern experiments require its knowledge to high precision. A recent calculation considered the radiative process ...at low energy, where the electron mass cannot be neglected. To test the calculation, an experiment was carried out using the Van de Graaff accelerator at the MIT High Voltage Research Laboratory. Momentum spectra at three scattering angles are reported here and compared to simulation, based on our previous calculation. Good agreement between the measurements and our calculation is observed.
Abstract
The search for a dark photon holds considerable interest in the physics community. Such a force carrier would begin to illuminate the dark sector. Many experiments have searched for such a ...particle, but so far it has proven elusive. In recent years the concept of a low mass dark photon has gained popularity in the physics community. Of particular recent interest is the
8
Be and
4
He anomaly, which could be explained by a new fifth force carrier with a mass of 17 MeV/
c
2
. The proposed Darklight experiment would search for this potential low mass force carrier at ARIEL in the 10-20 MeV/
c
2
e
+
e
−
invariant mass range. This proceeding will focus on the experimental design and physics case of the Darklight experiment.
Searching for a dark photon with DarkLight Corliss, R.
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
07/2016, Letnik:
865
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Here, we describe the current status of the DarkLight experiment at Jefferson Laboratory. DarkLight is motivated by the possibility that a dark photon in the mass range 10 to 100 MeV/c2 could couple ...the dark sector to the Standard Model. DarkLight will precisely measure electron proton scattering using the 100 MeV electron beam of intensity 5 mA at the Jefferson Laboratory energy recovering linac incident on a windowless gas target of molecular hydrogen. We will detect the complete final state including scattered electron, recoil proton, and e+e- pair. A phase-I experiment has been funded and is expected to take data in the next eighteen months. The complete phase-II experiment is under final design and could run within two years after phase-I is completed. The DarkLight experiment drives development of new technology for beam, target, and detector and provides a new means to carry out electron scattering experiments at low momentum transfers.
Suppression of the J/ψ nuclear-modification factor has been seen as a trademark signature of final-state effects in large collision systems for decades. In small systems, the nuclear modification was ...attributed to cold-nuclear-matter effects until the observation of strong differential suppression of the ψ(2S) state in p+A and d+A collisions suggested the presence of final-state effects. Results of J/ψ and ψ(2S) measurements in the dimuon decay channel are presented here for p+p, p+Al, and p+Au collision systems at sNN=200GeV. The results are predominantly shown in the form of the nuclear-modification factor, RpA, the ratio of the ψ(2S) invariant yield per nucleon-nucleon collision in collisions of proton on target nucleus to that in p+p collisions. Measurements of the J/ψ and ψ(2S) nuclear-modification factor are compared with shadowing and transport-model predictions, as well as to complementary measurements at Large Hadron Collider energies.
Small nuclear collisions are mainly sensitive to cold-nuclear-matter effects; however, the collective behavior observed in these collisions shows a hint of hot-nuclear-matter effects. The ...identified-particle spectra, especially the ϕ mesons which contain strange and antistrange quarks and have a relatively small hadronic-interaction cross section, are a good tool to study these effects. The PHENIX experiment has measured ϕ mesons in a specific set of small collision systems p+Al, p+Au, and 3He+Au, as well as d+Au Adare et al., Phys. Rev. C 83, 024909 (2011), at √sNN=200 GeV. The transverse-momentum spectra and nuclear-modification factors are presented and compared to theoretical-model predictions. The comparisons with different calculations suggest that quark-gluon plasma may be formed in these small collision systems at √sNN=200 GeV. However, the volume and the lifetime of the produced medium may be insufficient for observing strangeness-enhancement and jet-quenching effects. The comparison with calculations suggests that the main production mechanisms of ϕ mesons at midrapidity may be different in p+Al versus p/d/3He+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV. While thermal quark recombination seems to dominate in p/d/3He+Au collisions, fragmentation seems to be the main production mechanism in p+Al collisions.
We present a measurement of the transverse single-spin asymmetry for π0 and η mesons in p↑+ p collisions in the pseudorapidity range |η| < 0.35 and at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV with the ...PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. In comparison with previous measurements in this kinematic region, these results have factor-of-3-smaller uncertainties. As hadrons, π0 and η mesons are sensitive to both initial- and final-state nonperturbative effects for a mix of parton flavors. Comparisons of the differences in their transverse single-spin asymmetries have the potential to disentangle the possible effects of strangeness, isospin, or mass. These results can constrain the twist-3 trigluon collinear correlation function as well as the gluon Sivers function.
Here, the measurement of the direct-photon spectrum from Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV is presented by the PHENIX collaboration using the external-photon-conversion technique for 0%– ...93% central collisions in a transverse-momentum (pT) range of 0.8–10 GeV/c. An excess of direct photons, above prompt-photon production from hard-scattering processes, is observed for pT < 6 GeV/c. Nonprompt direct photons are measured by subtracting the prompt component, which is estimated as Ncoll-scaled direct photons from p+p collisions at 200 GeV, from the direct-photon spectrum. Results are obtained for 0.8 < pT < 6.0 GeV/c and suggest that the spectrum has an increasing inverse slope from ≈0.2 to 0.4 GeV/c with increasing pT, which indicates a possible sensitivity of the measurement to photons from earlier stages of the evolution of the collision. In addition, like the direct-photon production, the pT-integrated nonprompt direct-photon yields also follow a power-law scaling behavior as a function of collision-system size. The exponent, α, for the nonprompt component is found to be consistent with 1.1 with no apparent pT dependence.
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