Andreev, Y. M. et al, Molina Bueno, L., & Tuzi, M. (2023). Measurement of the intrinsic hadronic contamination in the NA64-e high-purity e+/e- beam at CERN. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 1057, 168776–8pp.
Abstract: We present the measurement of the intrinsic hadronic contamination at the CERN SPS H4 beamline configured to transport electrons and positrons at 100 GeV/c. The analysis, performed using data collected by the NA64-e experiment in 2022, is based on calorimetric measurements, exploiting the different interaction mechanisms of electrons and hadrons in the NA64 detector. We determined the contamination by comparing the results obtained using the nominal electron/positron beamline configuration with those from a dedicated setup, in which only hadrons impinged on the detector. We also obtained an estimate of the relative protons, antiprotons and pions yield by exploiting the different absorption probabilities of these particles in matter. We cross-checked our results with a dedicated Monte Carlo simulation for the hadron production at the primary T2 target, finding a good agreement with the experimental measurements.
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NA64 Collaboration(Andreev, Y. M. et al), & Molina Bueno, L. (2021). Improved exclusion limit for light dark matter from e(+) e(-) annihilation in NA64. Phys. Rev. D, 104(9), L091701–7pp.
Abstract: The current most stringent constraints for the existence of sub-GeV dark matter coupling to Standard Model via a massive vector boson A' were set by the NA64 experiment for the mass region m(A') less than or similar to 250 MeV, by analyzing data from the interaction of 2.84 x 10(11) 100-GeV electrons with an active thick target and searching for missing-energy events. In this work, by including A' production via secondary positron annihilation with atomic electrons, we extend these limits in the 200-300 MeV region by almost an order of magnitude, touching for the first time the dark matter relic density constrained parameter combinations. Our new results demonstrate the power of the resonant annihilation process in missing energy dark-matter searches, paving the road to future dedicated e(+) beam efforts.
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NA64 Collaboration(Andreev, Y. M. et al), Molina Bueno, L., & Tuzi, M. (2024). First Results in the Search for Dark Sectors at NA64 with the CERN SPS High Energy Muon Beam. Phys. Rev. Lett., 132(21), 211803–7pp.
Abstract: We report the first search for dark sectors performed at the NA64 experiment employing a high energy muon beam and a missing energy-momentum technique. Muons from the M2 beamline at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron with a momentum of 160 GeV/c are directed to an active target. The signal signature consists of a single scattered muon with momentum < 80 GeV/c in the final state, accompanied by missing energy, i.e., no detectable activity in the downstream calorimeters. For a total dataset of (1.98 +/- 0.02) x 10(10) muons on target, no event is observed in the expected signal region. This allows us to set new limits on the remaining (m(Z)'; g(Z)') parameter space of a new Z' (L-mu – L-tau) vector boson which could explain the muon (g – 2)(mu) anomaly. Additionally, our study excludes part of the parameter space suggested by the thermal dark matter relic abundance. Our results pave the way to explore dark sectors and light dark matter with muon beams in a unique and complementary way to other experiments.
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