Feasibility studies of time-like proton electromagnetic form factors at PANDA at FAIR

Simulation results for future measurements of electromagnetic proton form factors at \PANDA (FAIR) within the PandaRoot software framework are reported. The statistical precision with which the proton form factors can be determined is estimated. The signal channel $\bar p p \to e^+ e^-$ is studied on the basis of two different but consistent procedures. The suppression of the main background channel, $\textit{i.e.}$ $\bar p p \to \pi^+ \pi^-$, is studied. Furthermore, the background versus signal efficiency, statistical and systematical uncertainties on the extracted proton form factors are evaluated using two different procedures. The results are consistent with those of a previous simulation study using an older, simplified framework. However, a slightly better precision is achieved in the PandaRoot study in a large range of momentum transfer, assuming the nominal beam conditions and detector performance

The DIRC detectors at the PANDA experiment

PANDA is an experiment at the new FAIR facility at GSI and will, among other physics goals, perform charmonium spectroscopy and search for gluonic excitations using high luminosity antiproton beams up to 15 GeV/c. A high performance particle identification system applying DIRC detectors will allow pion/kaon separation up to 4 GeV/c. A Barrel DIRC with fused silica radiator bars or plates will surround the target at a radial distance of 48 cm and will cover a polar angle range of 22 to 140 degrees; a novel Endcap Disk DIRC built of a segmented fused silica disk of 210 cm diameter will be installed in the forward region to cover the polar angles from 5 to 22 degrees. The design of the optics and the readout of both DIRCs will be presented in this paper. Different prototypes were tested in particle beams. The performance of the latest prototypes, which are close to the final DIRC design, are discussed and compared to the PANDA requirements

Measurements of h_c(^1P_1) in psi' Decays

We present measurements of the charmonium state $h_c(^1P_1)$ made with 106M $\psi'$ events collected by BESIII at BEPCII. Clear signals are observed for $\psi'\to\pi^0 h_c$ with and without the subsequent radiative decay $h_c\to\gamma\eta_c$. First measurements of the absolute branching ratios $\mathcal{B}(\psi' \to\pi^0 h_c) = (8.4 \pm 1.3 \pm 1.0) \times 10^{-4}$ and $\mathcal{B}(h_c \to \gamma \eta_c) = (54.3 \pm 6.7 \pm5.2)$ are presented. A statistics-limited determination of the previously unmeasured $h_c$ width leads to an upper limit $\Gamma(h_c)<1.44$MeV (90% confidence). Measurements of $M(h_c) = 3525.40 \pm 0.13 \pm 0.18$MeV/$c^2$ and $\mathcal{B}(\psi'\to \pi^0 h_c) \times \mathcal{B}(h_c \to \gamma\eta_c) = (4.58 \pm 0.40 \pm 0.50) \times 10^{-4}$ are consistent with previous results.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

New developments of the PANDA Disc DIRC detector

The DIRC principle (Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov light) allows a very compact approach for particle identification detectors. The PANDA detector at the future FAIR facility at GSI will use a Barrel-DIRC for the central region and a Disc DIRC for the forward angular region between 5◦ and 22◦ . It will be the first time that a Disc DIRC is used in a high performance 4π detector. To achieve this aim, different designs and technologies have been evaluated and tested. This article will focus on the mechanical design and integration of the Disc DIRC with respect to the PANDA environment

Frontend electronics for high-precision single photo-electron timing

The next generation of high-luminosity experiments requires excellent particle identification detectors, which calls for imaging Cherenkov counters with fast electronics to cope with the expected hit rates. A Barrel DIRC will be used in the central region of the Target Spectrometer of the planned PANDA experiment at FAIR. A single photo-electron timing resolution of better than 100 ps RMS is required for the Barrel DIRC to disentangle the complicated patterns created on the image plane. R&amp;D studies have been performed to provide a design based on the TRB3 readout using FPGA-TDCs with a typical precision of 10 ps RMS and custom frontend electronics with high-bandwidth pre-amplifiers and fast discriminators. The discriminators also provide time-over-threshold information, thus enabling walk corrections to improve the timing resolution. Two types of frontend electronics cards optimised for reading out 64-channel PHOTONIS Planacon MCP-PMTs were tested: one based on the NINO ASIC and the other, called PADIWA, based on FPGA discriminators. Promising results were obtained in a full characterisation using a fast laser setup and in a test experiment at MAMI, Mainz, with a small scale DIRC prototype

Technical Design Report for the: PANDA Micro Vertex Detector

This document illustrates the technical layout and the expected performance of the Micro Vertex Detector (MVD) of the PANDA experiment. The MVD will detect charged particles as close as possible to the interaction zone. Design criteria and the optimisation process as well as the technical solutions chosen are discussed and the results of this process are subjected to extensive Monte Carlo physics studies. The route towards realisation of the detector is outlined.Comment: 189 pages, 225 figures, 41 table

Study of doubly strange systems using stored antiprotons

Bound nuclear systems with two units of strangeness are still poorly known despite their importance for many strong interaction phenomena. Stored antiprotons beams in the GeV range represent an unparalleled factory for various hyperon-antihyperon pairs. Their outstanding large production probability in antiproton collisions will open the floodgates for a series of new studies of systems which contain two or even more units of strangeness at the P‾ANDA experiment at FAIR. For the first time, high resolution γ-spectroscopy of doubly strange ΛΛ-hypernuclei will be performed, thus complementing measurements of ground state decays of ΛΛ-hypernuclei at J-PARC or possible decays of particle unstable hypernuclei in heavy ion reactions. High resolution spectroscopy of multistrange Ξ−-atoms will be feasible and even the production of Ω−-atoms will be within reach. The latter might open the door to the |S|=3 world in strangeness nuclear physics, by the study of the hadronic Ω−-nucleus interaction. For the first time it will be possible to study the behavior of Ξ‾+ in nuclear systems under well controlled conditions

PANDA Phase One - PANDA collaboration

The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt, Germany, provides unique possibilities for a new generation of hadron-, nuclear- and atomic physics experiments. The future antiProton ANnihilations at DArmstadt (PANDA or P¯ANDA) experiment at FAIR will offer a broad physics programme, covering different aspects of the strong interaction. Understanding the latter in the non-perturbative regime remains one of the greatest challenges in contemporary physics. The antiproton–nucleon interaction studied with PANDA provides crucial tests in this area. Furthermore, the high-intensity, low-energy domain of PANDA allows for searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, e.g. through high precision symmetry tests. This paper takes into account a staged approach for the detector setup and for the delivered luminosity from the accelerator. The available detector setup at the time of the delivery of the first antiproton beams in the HESR storage ring is referred to as the Phase One setup. The physics programme that is achievable during Phase One is outlined in this paper

Precision resonance energy scans with the PANDA experiment at FAIR: Sensitivity study for width and line shape measurements of the X(3872)

This paper summarises a comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation study for precision resonance energy scan measurements. Apart from the proof of principle for natural width and line shape measurements of very narrow resonances with PANDA, the achievable sensitivities are quantified for the concrete example of the charmonium-like X(3872) state discussed to be exotic, and for a larger parameter space of various assumed signal cross-sections, input widths and luminosity combinations. PANDA is the only experiment that will be able to perform precision resonance energy scans of such narrow states with quantum numbers of spin and parities that differ from J P C = 1 - -