2,700 research outputs found
Experimental investigation of the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect in low-Z targets
In the CERN NA63 collaboration we have addressed the question of the
potential inadequacy of the commonly used Migdal formulation of the
Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) effect by measuring the photon emission by 20
and 178 GeV electrons in the range 100 MeV - 4 GeV, in targets of
LowDensityPolyEthylene (LDPE), C, Al, Ti, Fe, Cu, Mo and, as a reference
target, Ta. For each target and energy, a comparison between simulated values
based on the LPM suppression of incoherent bremsstrahlung is shown, taking
multi-photon effects into account. For these targets and energies, we find that
Migdal's theoretical formulation is adequate to a precision of better than
about 5%, irrespective of the target substance.Comment: 8 pages, 13 figure
Observation of Anomalous Internal Pair Creation in Be: A Possible Signature of a Light, Neutral Boson
Electron-positron angular correlations were measured for the isovector
magnetic dipole 17.6 MeV state (, ) ground state
(, ) and the isoscalar magnetic dipole 18.15 MeV (,
) state ground state transitions in Be. Significant
deviation from the internal pair creation was observed at large angles in the
angular correlation for the isoscalar transition with a confidence level of . This observation might indicate that, in an intermediate step, a
neutral isoscalar particle with a mass of 16.70 (stat)
(sys) MeV and was created.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
pairs from a nuclear transition signaling an elusive light neutral boson
Electron-positron pairs have been observed in the 10.95-MeV decay
in O. The branching ratio of the ee pairs compared to the
3.84-MeV decay of the level is deduced to be
. This magnetic monopole (M0) transition cannot proceed by
-ray decay and is, to first order, forbidden for internal pair
creation. However, the transition may also proceed by the emission of a light
neutral or boson. Indeed, we do observe a sharp peak in the
angular correlation with all the characteristics belonging to the
intermediate emission of such a boson with an invariant mass of 8.5(5)
MeV/c. It may play a role in the current quest for light dark matter in the
universe.Comment: 6 page
Experimental investigations of synchrotron radiation at the onset of the quantum regime
The classical description of synchrotron radiation fails at large Lorentz
factors, , for relativistic electrons crossing strong transverse
magnetic fields . In the rest frame of the electron this field is comparable
to the so-called critical field T. For quantum corrections are essential for the description of
synchrotron radiation to conserve energy. With electrons of energies 10-150 GeV
penetrating a germanium single crystal along the axis, we have
experimentally investigated the transition from the regime where classical
synchrotron radiation is an adequate description, to the regime where the
emission drastically changes character; not only in magnitude, but also in
spectral shape. The spectrum can only be described by quantum synchrotron
radiation formulas. Apart from being a test of strong-field quantum
electrodynamics, the experimental results are also relevant for the design of
future linear colliders where beamstrahlung - a closely related process - may
limit the achievable luminosity.Comment: 11 pages, 18 figures, submitted to PR
Performance of the LHCb Vertex Detector Alignment Algorithm determined with Beam Test Data
LHCb is the dedicated heavy flavour experiment at the Large Hadron Collider
at CERN. The partially assembled silicon vertex locator (VELO) of the LHCb
experiment has been tested in a beam test. The data from this beam test have
been used to determine the performance of the VELO alignment algorithm. The
relative alignment of the two silicon sensors in a module and the relative
alignment of the modules has been extracted. This alignment is shown to be
accurate at a level of approximately 2 micron and 0.1 mrad for translations and
rotations, respectively in the plane of the sensors. A single hit precision at
normal track incidence of about 10 micron is obtained for the sensors. The
alignment of the system is shown to be stable at better than the 10 micron
level under air to vacuum pressure changes and mechanical movements of the
assembled system.Comment: accepted for publication in NIM
Coherent Pair Production by Photons in the 20-170 GeV Energy Range Incident on Crystals and Birefringence
The cross section for coherent pair production by linearly polarised photons
in the 20-170 GeV energy range was measured for photon aligned incidence on
ultra-high quality diamond and germanium crystals. The theoretical description
of coherent bremsstrahlung and coherent pair production phenomena is an area of
active theoretical debate and development. However, under our experimental
conditions, the theory predicted the combined cross section and polarisation
experimental observables very well indeed. In macroscopic terms, our experiment
measured a birefringence effect in pair production in a crystal. This study of
this effect also constituted a measurement of the energy dependent linear
polarisation of photons produced by coherent bremsstrahlung in aligned
crystals. New technologies for manipulating high energy photon beams can be
realised based on an improved understanding of QED phenomena at these energies.
In particular, this experiment demonstrates an efficient new polarimetry
technique. The pair production measurements were done using two independent
methods simultaneously. The more complex method using a magnet spectrometer
showed that the simpler method using a multiplicity detector was also viable.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, REVTeX4 two column, Version for
publicatio
Linear to Circular Polarisation Conversion using Birefringent Properties of Aligned Crystals for Multi-GeV Photons
We present the first experimental results on the use of a thick aligned Si
crystal acting as a quarter wave plate to induce a degree of circular
polarisation in a high energy linearly polarised photon beam. The linearly
polarised photon beam is produced from coherent bremsstrahlung radiation by 178
GeV unpolarised electrons incident on an aligned Si crystal, acting as a
radiator. The linear polarisation of the photon beam is characterised by
measuring the asymmetry in electron-positron pair production in a Ge crystal,
for different crystal orientations. The Ge crystal therefore acts as an
analyser. The birefringence phenomenon, which converts the linear polarisation
to circular polarisation, is observed by letting the linearly polarised photons
beam pass through a thick Si quarter wave plate crystal, and then measuring the
asymmetry in electron-positron pair production again for a selection of
relative angles between the crystallographic planes of the radiator, analyser
and quarter wave plate. The systematics of the difference between the measured
asymmetries with and without the quarter wave plate are predicted by theory to
reveal an evolution in the Stokes parameters from which the appearance of a
circularly polarised component in the photon beam can be demonstrated. The
measured magnitude of the circularly polarised component was consistent with
the theoretical predictions, and therefore is in indication of the existence of
the birefringence effect.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, REVTeX4 two column, Version for
publicatio
Results on the Coherent Interaction of High Energy Electrons and Photons in Oriented Single Crystals
The CERN-NA-59 experiment examined a wide range of electromagnetic processes
for multi-GeV electrons and photons interacting with oriented single crystals.
The various types of crystals and their orientations were used for producing
photon beams and for converting and measuring their polarisation.
The radiation emitted by 178 GeV unpolarised electrons incident on a 1.5 cm
thick Si crystal oriented in the Coherent Bremsstrahlung (CB) and the
String-of-Strings (SOS) modes was used to obtain multi-GeV linearly polarised
photon beams.
A new crystal polarimetry technique was established for measuring the linear
polarisation of the photon beam. The polarimeter is based on the dependence of
the Coherent Pair Production (CPP) cross section in oriented single crystals on
the direction of the photon polarisation with respect to the crystal plane.
Both a 1 mm thick single crystal of Germanium and a 4 mm thick multi-tile set
of synthetic Diamond crystals were used as analyzers of the linear
polarisation.
A birefringence phenomenon, the conversion of the linear polarisation of the
photon beam into circular polarisation, was observed. This was achieved by
letting the linearly polarised photon beam pass through a 10 cm thick Silicon
single crystal that acted as a "quarter wave plate" (QWP) as suggested by N.
Cabibbo et al.Comment: Presented at International workshop "Relativistic Channeling and
Related Coherent Phenomena", Frascati (Rome) 23-26 March 200
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