arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J. Rademacker.
The performance of the ring-imaging Cherenkov detectors at the LHCb experiment is determined during the LHC Run 2 period between 2015 and 2018. The stability of the Cherenkov angle resolution and number of detected photons with time and running conditions is measured. The particle identification performance is evaluated with data and found to satisfy the requirements of the physics programme.
The TORCH time-of-flight detector is designed to provide a 15 ps timing resolution for charged particles, resulting in $\pi$/$K$ particle identification up to 10 GeV/c momentum over a 10 m flight path. Cherenkov photons, produced in a quartz plate of 10 mm thickness, are focused onto an array of micro-channel plate photomultipliers (MCP-PMTs) which measure the photon arrival times and spatial positions. A half-scale ($660\times1250\times10$ mm$^3$) TORCH demonstrator module has been tested in an 8 GeV/c mixed proton-pion beam at CERN. Customised square MCP-PMTs of active area $53\times53$ mm$^2$ and granularity $64\times64$ pixels have been employed, which have been developed in collaboration with an industrial partner. The single-photon timing performance and photon yields have been measured as a function of beam position in the radiator, giving measurements which are consistent with expectations. The expected performance of TORCH for high luminosity running of the LHCb Upgrade II has been simulated.
The TORCH time-of-flight detector will provide particle identification between 2-10 GeV/c momentum over a flight distance of 10 m, and is designed for large-area coverage, up to 30 m^2. A 15 ps time-of-flight resolution per incident particle is anticipated by measuring the arrival times from Cherenkov photons produced in a synthetic fused silica radiator plate of 10 mm thickness. Customised Micro-Channel Plate Photomultiplier Tube (MCP-PMT) photon detectors of 53 x 53 mm^2 active area with a 64 x 64 granularity have been developed with industrial partners. Test-beam studies using both a small-scale TORCH demonstrator and a half-length TORCH module are presented. The desired timing resolution of 70 ps per single photon is close to being achieved.
TORCH is a time-of-flight detector designed to perform particle identification over the momentum range 2$-$10 GeV/c for a 10 m flight path. The detector exploits prompt Cherenkov light produced by charged particles traversing a quartz plate of 10 mm thickness. Photons are then trapped by total internal reflection and directed onto a detector plane instrumented with customised position-sensitive Micro-Channel Plate Photo-Multiplier Tube (MCP-PMT) detectors. A single-photon timing resolution of 70 ps is targeted to achieve the desired separation of pions and kaons, with an expectation of around 30 detected photons per track. Studies of the performance of a small-scale TORCH demonstrator with a radiator of dimensions 120 $\times$ 350 $\times$ 10 mm$^3$ have been performed in two test-beam campaigns during November 2017 and June 2018. Single-photon time resolutions ranging from 104.3 ps to 114.8 ps and 83.8 ps to 112.7 ps have been achieved for MCP-PMTs with granularity 4 $\times$ 64 and 8 $\times$ 64 pixels, respectively. Photon yields are measured to be within $\sim$10% and $\sim$30% of simulation, respectively. Finally, the outlook for future work with planned improvements is presented.
The SoLid collaboration has developed a new detector technology to detect electron anti-neutrinos at close proximity to the Belgian BR2 reactor at surface level. A 288$\,$kg prototype detector was deployed in 2015 and collected data during the operational period of the reactor and during reactor shut-down. Dedicated calibration campaigns were also performed with gamma and neutron sources. This paper describes the construction of the prototype detector with a high control on its proton content and the stability of its operation over a period of several months after deployment at the BR2 reactor site. All detector cells provide sufficient light yields to achieve a target energy resolution of better than 20%/$\sqrt{E(MeV)}$. The capability of the detector to track muons is exploited to equalize the light response of a large number of channels to a precision of 3% and to demonstrate the stability of the energy scale over time. Particle identification based on pulse-shape discrimination is demonstrated with calibration sources. Despite a lower neutron detection efficiency due to triggering constraints, the main backgrounds at the reactor site were determined and taken into account in the shielding strategy for the main experiment. The results obtained with this prototype proved essential in the design optimization of the final detector. This paper is dedicated to our SCK$\cdot$CEN colleague, Edgar Koonen, who passed away unexpectedly in 2017. Edgar was part of the SoLid collaboration since its inception and his efforts were vital to get the experiment started. He will be duly missed.
The next generation of very-short-baseline reactor experiments will require compact detectors operating at surface level and close to a nuclear reactor. This paper presents a new detector concept based on a composite solid scintillator technology. The detector target uses cubes of polyvinyltoluene interleaved with $^6$LiF:ZnS(Ag) phosphor screens to detect the products of the inverse beta decay reaction. A multi-tonne detector system built from these individual cells can provide precise localisation of scintillation signals, making efficient use of the detector volume. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that a neutron capture efficiency of over 70% is achievable with a sufficient number of $^6$LiF:ZnS(Ag) screens per cube and that an appropriate segmentation enables a measurement of the positron energy which is not limited by gamma-ray leakage. First measurements of a single cell indicate that a very good neutron-gamma discrimination and high neutron detection efficiency can be obtained with adequate triggering techniques. The light yield from positron signals has been measured, showing that an energy resolution of 14%/$\sqrt{E({\mathrm{MeV}})}$ is achievable with high uniformity. A preliminary neutrino signal analysis has been developed, using selection criteria for pulse shape, energy, time structure and energy spatial distribution and showing that an antineutrino efficiency of 40% can be achieved. It also shows that the fine segmentation of the detector can be used to significantly decrease both correlated and accidental backgrounds.
The GooFit Framework is designed to perform maximum-likelihood fits for arbitrary functions on various parallel back ends, for example a GPU. We present an extension to GooFit which adds the functionality to perform time-dependent amplitude analyses of pseudoscalar mesons decaying into four pseudoscalar final states. Benchmarks of this functionality show a significant performance increase when utilizing a GPU compared to a CPU. Furthermore, this extension is employed to study the sensitivity on the $D^0 - \bar{D}^0$ mixing parameters $x$ and $y$ in a time-dependent amplitude analysis of the decay $D^0 \rightarrow K^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$. Studying a sample of 50 000 events and setting the central values to the world average of $x = (0.49 \pm0.15) \%$ and $y = (0.61 \pm0.08) \%$, the statistical sensitivities of $x$ and $y$ are determined to be $\sigma(x) = 0.019 \%$ and $\sigma(y) = 0.019 \%$.
Measurements of the coherence factor $R_{K3\pi}$, the average strong-phase difference $\delta^{K3\pi}_D$ and mean amplitude ratio $r_D^{K3\pi}$ for the decay $D \to K^-\pi^+\pi^+\pi^-$ are presented. These parameters are important inputs to the determination of the unitarity triangle angle $\gamma$ in $B^- \to DK^-$ decays, where $D$ designates a superposition of $D^0$ and $\bar{D}{}^0$ mesons decaying to a common final state. The results are based on a combined fit to observables obtained from a re-analysis of the CLEO-c $\psi(3770)$ data set and those measured in a $D^0\bar{D}^0$ mixing study performed by the LHCb collaboration.
Quantum-correlated $\psi(3770) \to D\bar{D}$ decays collected by the CLEO-c experiment are used to perform a first measurement of $F_+^{4\pi}$, the fractional $CP$-even content of the self-conjugate decay $D \to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$, obtaining a value of $0.737 \pm 0.028$. An important input to the measurement comes from the use of $D \to K^0_{\rm S}\pi^+\pi^-$ and $D \to K^0_{\rm L}\pi^+\pi^-$ decays to tag the signal mode. This same technique is applied to the channels $D \to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ and $D \to K^+K^-\pi^0$, yielding $F_+^{\pi\pi\pi^0} = 1.014 \pm 0.045 \pm 0.022$ and $F_+^{KK\pi^0} = 0.734 \pm 0.106 \pm 0.054$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. These measurements are consistent with those of an earlier analysis, based on $CP$-eigenstate tags, and can be combined to give values of $F_+^{\pi\pi\pi^0} = 0.973 \pm 0.017$ and $F_+^{KK\pi^0} = 0.732 \pm 0.055$. The results will enable the three modes to be included in a model-independent manner in measurements of the unitarity triangle angle $\gamma$ using $B^\mp \to DK^\mp$ decays, and in time-dependent studies of $CP$ violation and mixing in the $D\bar{D}$ system.
The series of workshops on New Partial-Wave Analysis Tools for Next-Generation Hadron Spectroscopy Experiments was initiated with the ATHOS 2012 meeting, which took place in Camogli, Italy, June 20-22, 2012. It was followed by ATHOS 2013 in Kloster Seeon near Munich, Germany, May 21-24, 2013. The third, ATHOS3, meeting is planned for April 13-17, 2015 at The George Washington University Virginia Science and Technology Campus, USA. The workshops focus on the development of amplitude analysis tools for meson and baryon spectroscopy, and complement other programs in hadron spectroscopy organized in the recent past including the INT-JLab Workshop on Hadron Spectroscopy in Seattle in 2009, the International Workshop on Amplitude Analysis in Hadron Spectroscopy at the ECT*-Trento in 2011, the School on Amplitude Analysis in Modern Physics in Bad Honnef in 2011, the Jefferson Lab Advanced Study Institute Summer School in 2012, and the School on Concepts of Modern Amplitude Analysis Techniques in Flecken-Zechlin near Berlin in September 2013. The aim of this document is to summarize the discussions that took place at the ATHOS 2012 and ATHOS 2013 meetings. We do not attempt a comprehensive review of the field of amplitude analysis, but offer a collection of thoughts that we hope may lay the ground for such a document.
Measurements of the coherence factors (R_Kpipi0 and R_K3pi) and the average strong-phase differences (delta^Kpipi0_D and delta^K3pi_D) for the decays D0-> K-pi+pi0 and D0->K-pi+pi+pi- are presented. These parameters are important inputs to the determination of the unitarity triangle angle gamma in B+/- -> DK+/- decays, where D designates a D0 or D0bar meson decaying to a common final state. The measurements are made using quantum correlated DDbar decays collected by the CLEO-c experiment at the psi(3770) resonance, and augment a previously published analysis by the inclusion of new events in which the signal decay is tagged by the mode D-> K0Spi+pi-. The measurements also benefit from improved knowledge of external inputs, namely the D0D0bar mixing parameters, r_D^Kpi and several D-meson branching fractions. The measured values are R_Kpipi0 = 0.82 +- 0.07, delta_D^Kpipi0 = (164+20-14) deg., R_K3pi = 0.32+0.20-0.28 and delta^K3pi_D = (225+21_-78) deg. Consideration is given to how these measurements can be improved further by using the larger quantum-correlated data set collected by BESIII.
Utilizing the full CLEO-c data sample of 818 pb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ data taken at the $\psi(3770)$ resonance, we update our measurements of absolute hadronic branching fractions of charged and neutral $D$ mesons. We previously reportedresults from subsets of these data. Using a double tag technique we obtain branching fractions for three $D^0$ and six $D^+$ modes, including the reference branching fractions $\mathcal{B} (D^0\to K^-\pi^+)=(3.934 \pm 0.021 \pm 0.061)\%$ and $\mathcal{B} (D^+ \to K^- \pi^+\pi^+)=(9.224 \pm 0.059 \pm 0.157)\%$. The uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. In these measurements we include the effects of final-state radiation by allowing for additional unobserved photons in the final state, and the systematic errors include our estimates of the uncertainties of these effects. Furthermore, using an independent measurement of the luminosity, we obtain the cross sections $\sigma(e^+e^-\to D^0\overline{D}{}^0)=(3.607\pm 0.017 \pm 0.056) \ \mathrm{nb}$ and $\sigma(e^+e^-\to D^+D^-)=(2.882\pm 0.018 \pm 0.042) \ \mathrm{nb}$ at a center of mass energy, $E_\mathrm{cm} = 3774 \pm 1$ MeV.
The branching fractions of Ds meson decays serve to normalize many measurements of processes involving charm quarks. Using 586 pb^-1 of e+ e- collisions recorded at a center of mass energy of 4.17 GeV, we determine absolute branching fractions for 13 Ds decays in 16 reconstructed final states with a double tag technique. In particular we make a precise measurement of the branching fraction B(Ds -> K- K+ pi+) = (5.55 +- 0.14 +- 0.13)%, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic respectively. We find a significantly reduced value of B(Ds -> pi+ pi0 eta') compared to the world average, and our results bring the inclusively and exclusively measured values of B(Ds -> eta' X)$ into agreement. We also search for CP-violating asymmetries in Ds decays and measure the cross-section of e+ e- -> Ds* Ds at Ecm = 4.17 GeV.
We analyze a sample of 3 million quantum-correlated D0 D0bar pairs from 818 pb^-1 of e+e- collision data collected with the CLEO-c detector at E_cm = 3.77 GeV, to give an updated measurement of \cos\delta and a first determination of \sin\delta, where \delta is the relative strong phase between doubly Cabibbo-suppressed D0 --> K+pi- and Cabibbo-favored D0bar --> K+pi- decay amplitudes. With no inputs from other experiments, we find \cos\delta = 0.81 +0.22+0.07 -0.18-0.05, \sin\delta = -0.01 +- 0.41 +- 0.04, and |\delta| = 10 +28+13 -53-0 degrees. By including external measurements of mixing parameters, we find alternative values of \cos\delta = 1.15 +0.19+0.00 -0.17-0.08, \sin\delta = 0.56 +0.32+0.21 -0.31-0.20, and \delta = (18 +11-17) degrees. Our results can be used to improve the world average uncertainty on the mixing parameter y by approximately 10%.
The first measurements of the coherence factor R_{K_S^0K\pi} and the average strong--phase difference \delta^{K_S^0K\pi} in D^0 \to K_S^0 K^\mp\pi^\pm decays are reported. These parameters can be used to improve the determination of the unitary triangle angle \gamma\ in B^- \rightarrow $\widetilde{D}K^-$ decays, where $\widetilde{D}$ is either a D^0 or a D^0-bar meson decaying to the same final state, and also in studies of charm mixing. The measurements of the coherence factor and strong-phase difference are made using quantum-correlated, fully-reconstructed D^0D^0-bar pairs produced in e^+e^- collisions at the \psi(3770) resonance. The measured values are R_{K_S^0K\pi} = 0.70 \pm 0.08 and \delta^{K_S^0K\pi} = (0.1 \pm 15.7)$^\circ$ for an unrestricted kinematic region and R_{K*K} = 0.94 \pm 0.12 and \delta^{K*K} = (-16.6 \pm 18.4)$^\circ$ for a region where the combined K_S^0 \pi^\pm invariant mass is within 100 MeV/c^2 of the K^{*}(892)^\pm mass. These results indicate a significant level of coherence in the decay. In addition, isobar models are presented for the two decays, which show the dominance of the K^*(892)^\pm resonance. The branching ratio {B}(D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^+\pi^-)/{B}(D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^-\pi^+) is determined to be 0.592 \pm 0.044 (stat.) \pm 0.018 (syst.), which is more precise than previous measurements.
The first flavor-tagged amplitude analysis of the decay D0 to the self-conjugate final state K+K-pi+pi- is presented. Data from the CLEO II.V, CLEO III, and CLEO-c detectors are used, from which around 3000 signal decays are selected. The three most significant amplitudes, which contribute to the model that best fits the data, are phirho0, K1(1270)+-K-+, and non-resonant K+K-pi+pi-. Separate amplitude analyses of D0 and D0-bar candidates indicate no CP violation among the amplitudes at the level of 5% to 30% depending on the mode. In addition, the sensitivity to the CP-violating parameter gamma/phi3 of a sample of 2000 B+ -> D0-tilde(K+K-pi+pi-)K+ decays, where D0-tilde is a D0 or D0-bar, collected at LHCb or a future flavor facility, is estimated to be (11.3 +/- 0.3) degrees using the favored model.
Using the entire CLEO-c psi(3770) to DDbar event sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 818 pb^-1 and approximately 5.4 x 10^6 DDbar events, we measure the form factors for the decays D0 to rho- e+ nu_e and D+ to rho0 e+ nu_e for the first time and the branching fractions with improved precision. A four-dimensional unbinned maximum likelihood fit determines the form factor ratios to be: V(0)/A_1(0) = 1.48 +- 0.15 +- 0.05 and A_2(0)/A_1(0)= 0.83 +- 0.11 +- 0.04. Assuming CKM unitarity, the known D meson lifetimes and our measured branching fractions we obtain the form factor normalizations A_1(0), A_2(0), and V(0). We also present a measurement of the branching fraction for D^+ to omega e^+ nu_e with improved precision.
Using a data sample of 2.59 x 10^7 psi(2S) decays obtained with the CLEO-c detector, we perform amplitude analyses of the complementary decay chains chi_c1 -> eta pi+ pi- and chi_c1 -> eta' pi+ pi-. We find evidence for a P-wave eta' pi scattering amplitude, which, if interpreted as a resonance, would have exotic J^PC = 1^-+ and parameters consistent with the pi_1(1600) state reported in other production mechanisms. We also make the first observation of the decay a_0(980) -> eta' pi and measure the ratio of branching fractions B(a_0(980) -> eta' pi)/B(a_0(980) -> eta pi) = 0.064 +- 0.014 +- 0.014. The pi pi spectrum produced with a recoiling eta is compared to that with eta' recoil.