New preshower detector for the DIRAC experiment Pentia, M.; Aogaki, S.; Dumitriu, D. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2015, Letnik:
795
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Preshower (PSh) detector 1 is a component of the DIRAC setup 2. It is designed to identify and reject the huge e−e+ pairs background in the ππ and Kπ pairs measurement produced in a hadronic atom ...ionization process. In the high energy region used for kaon detection, the small Nitrogen Cherenkov detector has low electron rejection efficiency. To increase the overall efficiency, a new two-layer scintillator Preshower detector has been developed and built. The new Preshower–Cherenkov combination ensures an electron rejection efficiency better than 99% in the momentum range 1–7GeV/c.
Preshower detector for π +π − hadronic atom studies Pentia, M.; Ciocarlan, C.; Constantinescu, S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
2009, Letnik:
603, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A preshower (PSh) detector has been prepared, tested and used at the CERN-DIRAC experiment B. Adeva, et al., DIRAC proposal, CERN/SPSLC 95-1, SPSLC/P 284, 1995. The aim of this experiment was to test ...some nonperturbative QCD predictions J. Gasser, H. Leutwyler, Phys. Lett. B 125 (1983) 325; J. Gasser, H. Leutwyler, Ann. Phys. 158 (1984) 142; J. Gasser, H. Leutwyler, Nucl. Phys. B 250 (1985) 465; J. Bijnens, G. Colangelo, G. Ecker, J. Gasser, M.E. Sainio, Phys. Lett. B 374 (1996) 210 by measuring pionium (π
+π
− hadronic atom) lifetime. In this context the PSh detector, together with the Cherenkov detector, pursued to reject the background electron pairs in the region 1–4
GeV where the pion pairs from atom breakup were present.
The technique used for pion/electron separation was to probe the electron shower development in the early formation stage in Pb converter. We have studied the dependence of the amplitude spectra on particle momentum and converter and scintillator thickness. The estimated electron rejection efficiency was better than 85% with a pion loss less than 5% for a preshower detector with Pb converter thickness
w
Pb
=2.5
cm and scintillator slab
w
Sc
=1
cm.
The PSh track efficiency within the DIRAC setup has been measured with a global efficiency per arm better than 99%, slab efficiency per arm better than 96% and corresponding pair events efficiency per arm ∼99% and per slab ∼93%.
After having announced the statistically significant observation (5.6σ) of the new exotic πK atom, the DIRAC experiment at the CERN proton synchrotron presents the measurement of the corresponding ...atom lifetime, based on the full πK data sample: τ=(5.5−2.8+5.0)×10−15 s. By means of a precise relation (≈1%) between atom lifetime and scattering length, the following value for the S-wave isospin-odd πK scattering length a0−=13(a1/2−a3/2) has been derived: |a0−|=(0.072−0.020+0.031)Mπ−1.
The observation of hydrogenlike πK atoms, consisting of π^{-}K^{+} or π^{+}K^{-} mesons, is presented. The atoms are produced by 24 GeV/c protons from the CERN PS accelerator, interacting with ...platinum or nickel foil targets. The breakup (ionization) of πK atoms in the same targets yields characteristic πK pairs, called "atomic pairs," with small relative momenta Q in the pair center-of-mass system. The upgraded DIRAC experiment observed 349±62 such atomic πK pairs, corresponding to a signal of 5.6 standard deviations. This is the first statistically significant observation of the strange dimesonic πK atom.
The adapted DIRAC experiment at the CERN PS accelerator observed for the first time long-lived hydrogenlike π^{+}π^{-} atoms, produced by protons hitting a beryllium target. A part of these atoms ...crossed the gap of 96 mm between the target and a 2.1 μm thick platinum foil, in which most of them dissociated. Analyzing the observed number of atomic pairs, n_{A}^{L}=436_{-61}^{+157}|_{tot}, the lifetime of the 2p state is found to be τ_{2p}=(0.45_{-0.30}^{+1.08}|_{tot})×10^{-11} s, not contradicting the corresponding QED 2p state lifetime τ_{2p}^{QED}=1.17×10^{-11} s. This lifetime value is three orders of magnitude larger than our previously measured value of the π^{+}π^{-} atom ground state lifetime τ=(3.15_{-0.26}^{+0.28}|_{tot})×10^{-15} s. Further studies of long-lived π^{+}π^{-} atoms will allow us to measure energy differences between p and s atomic states and so to discriminate between the isoscalar and isotensor ππ scattering lengths with the aim to check QCD predictions.
The results of a search for hydrogen-like atoms consisting of π∓K± mesons are presented. Evidence for πK atom production by 24 GeV/c protons from CERN PS interacting with a nickel target has been ...seen in terms of characteristic πK pairs from their breakup in the same target (178±49) as well as in terms of produced πK atoms (653±42). Using these results, the analysis yields a first value for the πK atom lifetime of τ=(2.5−1.8+3.0) fs and a first measurement of the S-wave isospin-odd πK scattering length |a0−|=13|a1/2−a3/2|=(0.11−0.04+0.09)Mπ−1 (aI for isospin I).
The DIRAC spectrometer installed at CERN PS was upgraded in order to study simultaneously A2π and AπK atoms, namely the bound states of two π mesons, and of π and K mesons, respectively. The detector ...system can now accept a high intensity beam of 2–6×1011 primary protons per second. The electronics and the data-acquisition system can handle a very large amount of data to identify π, K, p, e and µ, allowing the selection of ππ and πK pairs in the offline analysis. The resolution of the longitudinal and transverse components of the relative momentum Q of each meson pair in their center-of-mass system with respect to the direction of the pair was substantially improved. The analysis of their distributions allowed an reliable separation between the meson pairs originating from hadronic atoms and the backgrounds permitting the measurement of the lifetimes of hadronic atoms in the ground state and π–π, π–K s-wave scattering lengths. The upgraded setup also allowed the study of the long-lived excited states of ππ atoms.
After observing and investigating the double-exotic (a double-exotic atom is a bound system, in which both oppositely charged components are unstable particles like μ,π,K,…) π+π− atom with the ground ...state lifetime τ of about 3×10−15 s, the upgraded DIRAC experiment at the CERN PS accelerator observes for the first time long-lived states of the same atom with lifetimes of about 10−11 s and more. The number of characteristic pion pairs resulting from the breakup (ionisation) of long-lived π+π− atoms amounts to 436±61, corresponding to a signal-to-error ratio of better than 7 standard deviations. This observation opens a new possibility to measure energy differences between p and s atomic states and so to determine ππ scattering lengths.
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